Supreme Commander Unit and Structure Codex
by Guardian54
Summary: This documents the SupCom units' canonical sizes and is a good idea for any SupCom fanfic writer. 3850 is just over a year after the Seraphim War ended, and the Seraphim Republics (and Timeline) are mine, but sizes are about 25% too tall (will be fixed). It lists all the standard units and my new variants which will be at some point observed in my stories too.
1. Timeline

A/N: Alright, since everyone else's codices begin with a timeline, this one will too, presuming it's not taken down on order of Support (someone who cared too much prodded me about it and I asked them just to be safe)

Unfortunately, a lot of this will initially be referenced from SupCom wiki. However, you will notice major changes from the formation of the Prime Worlds onward, and little things that changed (e.g. Proxima Centauri for first colony instead of Alpha Centauri, to celebrate that exoplanet discovery) before that.

 **This timeline is not SupCom canon, unlike the unit sizes listed in later codex entries which are measured from in-game. However, I must point out that colony growth rates here seem more sensible than canon… and the Empire-UEF power gap more sensibly small. All characters mentioned are not quite canon or entirely of my creation…**

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 **Codex Entry 0: My Modified Timeline, 2000 to 3850**

 **2009** : An aggressive project is launched by the United States of America, aimed toward putting a man on Mars.

 **2016-2056** : Preparations for and the act of limited colonization within the Solar System by the various major powers of Earth, in response to the United States' actions.

 **2025** : The Quantum Age begins with the successful transportation of a single cesium atom 10 feet through a "quantum tunnel" in a lab. This is fundamentally different from previous attempts which merely "copied" matter.

 **2032** : A milligram of iron is successfully transported to the Moon's surface, using the combined output of 25 nuclear fission reactors.

 **2050** : First living matter transportation test. Monkeys are successfully transported to Mars in 2055.

 **2062** : A research base on Triton begins work on interstellar travel, having been transported there the previous year via a 0.26 second journey.

 **2108** : First extra-solar colony on Proxima Centauri b. This endeavour's energy cost was deemed completely impractical for future colonization efforts. This was not due so much to the energy needed, since mass-energy manipulation and thus post-scarcity has already been achieved to a degree (which would grow in the coming centuries), but the technology to contain it as needed.

 **2110** : Unification of human exploratory efforts, under the United Nations of Earth. This government would later rename itself the Earth Empire as an aristocracy emerged and solidified its political power.

 **2110-2184** : After determining that sending genetically engineered human DNA patterns and a small team to initiate a colony would be best, using local mass and energy resources for construction and terraforming as needed (the technology is coined "nanolathing" as per old science fiction works), the UNE establishes the first sixteen colonies, known as the Prime Worlds. The colonists contributed greatly to the creation of the Quantum Gate Network, which allowed for much more efficient transit and expansion of the colonies by emigration from Earth.

 **2284** : The First Great Expansion begins with the colonies of the Prime Worlds launching their own colonization efforts. After adapting over time to govern on an interstellar scale, the Earth Empire fully establishes Earth Command as its military arm. To maintain control over the rapidly expanding Empire, derivatives of the colonization suits are specially made to create units in the field, requiring fewer people serving in Earth Command to enforce order.

 **2425** : The Second Great Expansion begins as many hundreds of new colonies are founded by the colonies founded in the First Great Expansion and older worlds alike. So far, no intelligent life has been encountered and many assume no other intelligent life exists.

 **2457** : A survey expedition sent to Seraphim II does not re-establish contact within the standard window. A routine follow-up expedition is scheduled.

 **2490** : A second expedition to Seraphim II also fails to re-establish contact with Earth. Seraphim II is marked "Hazard" on the ever-growing "Investigate Hazard" list. Due to unrest on the fringe worlds, Earth Command cannot afford the personnel to investigate at present. There are few who are capable of withstanding the reality of modern war for very long…

 **2492** : An artificial intelligence is successfully implanted into a human brain and becomes part of the person's personality and abilities. The human/AI pair is called a Symbiont.

 **2512** : The Symbiont program completes its experimental phase. Symbionts take up important tasks throughout Earth Empire space.

 **2563** : The Third Expansion begins. The Earth Empire begins to show strain from having so many colonies and being of such technological level that they are essentially independent of one another.

 **2566** : Procyon, a Symbiont colony, petitions for independence. The Earth Empire activates its secret "Loyalty Program" installed on all Symbionts.

 **2569** : The first version of the Symbiont Liberation Matrix is distributed en masse for the first time by Dr. Brackman and the few Symbionts he had already freed. The Symbionts mostly lie low for now, awaiting the return of Brackman and their brethren from beyond the down-spin border of the Earth Empire.

 **2570** : The Earth Empire is contacted by descendants of the Seraphim II expedition, who claim to have been taught many secrets by aliens. The Empire quarantines the sector and sends Commanders. First Contact between the Earth Empire and Seraphim proceed disastrously due to EarthCom xenophobia. The Earth Empire quickly develops a bioweapon and deploys it against the Seraphim near the end of this year.

 **2571.3** : Contact with all worlds bordering Seraphim II is lost.

 **2571.8** : All contact with EarthCom forces within 10 light-years of the Seraphim Quarantine Zone is lost.

 **2572** : The last known Seraphim dies in battle. Most of the Seraphim had been killed by the bioweapon. The humans who had coexisted peacefully with them take up the cause of vengeance and spreading The Way. They call themselves the Aeon Illuminate.

 **2578** : The newly named Cybran Nation tears into the down-spin border of the Earth Empire, liberating many Symbiont colonies and pushing deep into Earth Empire territory, while EarthCom is being beaten back by the Aeon. The Infinite War begins (though the name was coined later).

 **2590** : The First Aeon Incursion begins, eventually ending with the desperate stand of Commander Williamson at the location thereafter known as Williamson's Bridge ten years later.

 **2618** : The Earth Empire has lost control of most of its territory as perceptions of corruption and injustice boil over more than EarthCom can contain. With the many failures of EarthCom against the Cybran Nation and Aeon Illuminate, faith in the military is non-existent and open rebellion an everyday occurrence across the thousands of human-controlled worlds. Anarchy reigns through former Empire territory. It is during the massive advances into the collapsing Empire this year that the Cybran Nation and Aeon Illuminate collide in ideology, interests, and battle.

 **2624** : The Earth Empire is formally dissolved, and the United Earth Federation is formed by the force of fear of the Aeon and Cybrans. For some odd reason, there is usually a lot of screaming about "BORG!" and mass murder-suicides whenever the Cybrans tried to pacify a settlement…

 **2640** : The United Earth Federation finally digs in its heels manages to grind the battle lines to a standstill. Most of the rim-ward worlds (relative to Earth) now belong to the Aeon, and the down-spin worlds largely belong to the Cybrans.

 **2650** : The United Earth Federation launches its first Incursion into Cybran space and exterminate as many Cybran civilians as they can find, before the Cybran military stops them and pushes them back.

 **2690** : On the hundredth anniversary of the beginning of the First Aeon Incursion, the term "Infinite War" was coined for the present conflict.

 **Sometime in the 2800s** : Contact between the Cybran Nation and the United Nations of Drell. The Cybrans repair the Drell homeworld from ongoing ecological disaster, and mostly leave them to their own devices in the name of promoting independent technological paths.

 **3000** : In response to repeated UEF and Aeon Incursions, the Cybran Nation no longer mandates trying to encourage non-Symbionts to peacefully accept the change in control over settlements during Incursions. It is now up to individual ACU pilots.

 **3503-3504** : Rhiza Sullivan and Xavier Fran are born.

 **3529** : Xavier Fran and Rhiza Sullivan graduate top of their class from ACU pilot training, though Rhiza wet through the program faster than Fran. Unfortunately, in the name of having some measure of wisdom and he Aeon Illuminate being in a good enough position in the war, graduation from ACU piloting school is not permitted before age 25, and Rhiza enlisted a bit late, so she is 26 at this point. Both proceed to become highly renowned Aeon commanders.

 **3543** : Rhiza achieves the rank of Crusader, the youngest Aeon commander ever to reach that rank. Fran lags behind due to lack of adequate demonstration of zeal. He focuses vastly more in battle on engaging and destroying enemy Commanders instead of killing civilians before they can escape, which is often the actual objective.

 **3740** s: Rhiza and Fran assist Rhianne Burke in ascending to the throne after the last Princess, Miranda Burke, retired. The violence of this period is reckoned by some to be practically a civil war. Eventually, the compromise of accepting Rhianne, a known pacifist and student of Evaluator Abigail Toth, another known pacifist, being counterbalanced by selection of a more aggressive Avatar of War is brokered.

 **3760** : Fran, still stuck at the relatively dead-end rank of Senior Templar (compared to High Templar on the promotion path), mentors a promising young recruit by the name of Jaran Marxon. The young man is piloting an ACU two years later, and quickly climbs up the ranks due to the endorsement of so senior a commander as Fran—though he is considered too soft for higher rank, Fran is still highly respected as one of the oldest surviving pilots—and making the right political connections.

 **3814** : Appointment of Jaran Marxon as Avatar of War once he reached fifty gigadeaths in his total score (kills plus a fraction of each assist), which is the minimum required to qualify for that position. Marxon informs Fran and Rhiza that he feels extremely betrayed at being recommended for that position, and for them shoving him up the ranks so fast so that Rhiza doesn't need to deal with the paperwork. He also suggested that this was because Fran and Rhiza were more than friendly rivals, citing his new rank as why they couldn't knock some sense into his head. Marxon avoids social contact with the two from that point forth.

 **3815** : Steven Hackett is born.

 **3816** : Ariel Williams is born.

 **3820** : Hannah Shepard is born.

 **3830s** : Dominic Maddox (3831), Thalia Kael (3834), and Ivan Brackman (3838) are born.

 **3840** : Hannah Shepard makes her debut as an ACU pilot. Cybrans mature faster physically and mentally than Aeon or UEF humans, and she is no different.

 **3841** : Steven Hackett and Ariel Williams make their debut as ACU pilots. They and Hannah quickly become acknowledged as the prodigies of their generation.

 **3844** : Black Sun is fired while being contested by the Cybrans and Aeon. Though the Cybrans controlled the Control Facility and had uploaded their Quantum Virus successfully, Marxon, who had come to Earth to see the end of his endless mountains of paperwork, stalemated Hannah's forces and forced Hackett to escape to another base in time for Ariel to sweep in and help Rhianne fire Black Sun while it was under largely Aeon control. This is the first instance of Rhianne becoming an Ascended being. Then the Quantum Rift opened, and though a significant part of the Earth populace was evacuated by cooperation between at least the UEF and Cybrans—Rhianne had not managed to broadcast at enough power to pierce the fanaticism of some Aeon pilots—Earth is bombed to ashes and the Seraphim War began.

 **3845** : Jaran Marxon, having barely escaped Kael's purge of the Aeon military after her seizure of power, admits himself to a psychiatric facility run by Aeon Loyalists flocking to Rhiza and Fran's banner. He could probably have sought care from the UEF with far less trouble, as his face is nearly unknown outside the Illuminate. That wasn't because "few survived long enough to transmit it" as propaganda claims. No, it's because like Fran he wasn't one to trash-talk his enemies back when he operated in the field, and unlike Fran he had no habit of telling the civilians to use the time he spent fighting their defenders to get the hell out. Marxon was found to be repentant thanks to Rhianne's message, and psychologically no longer fit to pilot an ACU after 30 years of serving as the Avatar of War full-time.

Due to the blanket immunity of ACU pilots from persecution for war crimes and the not so minor fact that while ruthless Marxon didn't specifically take extra effort to go out of his way to kill civilians—except when testing the mettle of subordinates, or getting back at his old mentor for sticking him with this damned job—he was tolerated by the Coalition. He will also sometimes be hired to give speeches about how wrong the path the Aeon had taken was, though he is permanently barred from UEF and Cybran space unless governmentally invited.

Marxon served a few more times after his defection as an ACU pilot, fighting in defence of the planet the facility was on. None have passed. As a side note, he is mystified as to why people nicknamed him "dry tofu" (Gan Dou Fu) in Chinese, the second most common and second official language of Quantum Age humanity, for terminating all attackers.

 **3846** : General Samantha Clarke is presumed to be killed in action on Capella, though the blast profile didn't quite match an ACU meltdown…

 **3847** : Arrival of the Seraphim Separatists, who assist the humans in slowing the advance of Seraphim Imperium forces. It is revealed by the Separatists that while the Imperium is actually a democratic system and thus the name was meant as a joke, the Imperium were completely serious about teach the humans a lesson for their bioweapon on Seraphim II. However, it is also suggested that the Imperium seems to not be trying as hard as they could be, and the human factions found this plausible due to lack of Seraphim bio-weaponry use.

 **3848** : Rhianne Burke returns, and the Quantum Rift is closed by use of technologies provided by the Seraphim Republics. Though suspicions abound regarding the motives of both groups of Seraphim, the Republics are for now accepted into the Coalition as a fourth faction. Oh, and Marxon confessed to Rhianne (who did not sense falsehood in his words) that his "killing" of Toth was actually a matter of putting her out of action… and then the Order of the Illuminate finishing the job to his surprise. He did not state why he previously claimed otherwise. She would probably put him through several walls if he told her he'd said it just to piss her off…

…Goddamn it, historians, now he had to run away, as fast as he could, and given he hasn't had a chance to stick himself in rejuvenation therapy yet… that not as fast as he would like, even if Rhianne didn't use her Psionics…

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 **A/N** : And that's how my fanfics begin, more or less. Marxon's fate varies in the three SupCom 1 endings, so I made him the butt monkey of many jokes, and stay alive so he can be the butt monkey of many more. On the other hand, he did get the last laugh by a) being lumped in with all other ACU pilots in not being persecuted and b) fobbing the paperwork mountain off on Rhiza. This also reserves another canon character for future hilarity.


	2. Standard Roster Land Factory Units

**UPDATE: Unit heights, clearances and depths revised to reflect new data that wall blocks are 7.8 meters tall instead of 10 as I previously assumed. However, the 20-meter-grid approximation is still made here, so I approximate wall blocks as 8m tall.**

 **Supreme Commander is in the uncanny valley of science fiction technological power. On the far side you have the folks destroying star clusters, or galaxies, for kicks while on the near side you have basically every other sci-fi out there. Even galactic destruction or building is technically not impossible for SupCom in the long term, depending on how far a specialized installation can reclaim mass from (e.g. galactic core black hole mining).**

 **And then there's generating energy literally out of nowhere (Tier 1 generators), which can only be explained by cheating the laws of physics, because there is no way in hell a fusion reactor (UEF Tier 2/3 generator names, I doubt they're true beyond nostalgia and code-naming) or any form of nuclear reactor at Tier 1 is going to generate less energy (+20/sec vs +100/sec) than a goddamned hydrocarbon power plant of any type. Building it would cost far more energy than whatever fuel one produces from raw mass-energy to put inside can yield! So I must conclude that, with absence of any observable fuel, SupCom power generation is from skirting the laws of entropy by drawing entropy from the universe and circulating it close to the boundaries between universes where some laws of physics don't apply. In other words, to an insufficiently advanced society… magic.**

 **Then there's the sensor abilities implied in being able to gate in with just an ACU, and spot a Kennel drone (the tiniest unit) self-destruct and crash from 80 kilometers away THROUGH the horizon, with just ACU onboard sensors. That leads to stealth: you somehow cannot detect a 130-ish meter tall, 55000-ton bipedal walker (Forged Alliance Forever Galactic Colossus stats) moving around the operational area at 50m/s i.e. 180 km/h unless a) you are within "Visual" sensors which usually means about 400m for most units or b) you have what still gets called "Radar" (it's NOT what primitives call radar) within 12 kilometers. This must be attributed to "passive stealth" and "active camouflage". And with "active stealth", it's even worse, as an 80-meter-tall 38000-ton walker (FAF Monkeylord) rushing about at that speed only gets detected at 4 kilometers by the best sensor tech available.**

 **As for weapons, you cannot see huge plasma weapons (even beams), high-powered laser weapons, or high velocity shells rushing through the air until you are within visual range, and counter-battery is canonically impossible without sensors picking the enemy up. This reveals stealth capabilities (including weapons stealth) almost beyond the comprehension of most primitives. The need for weapons stealth is what drives the rather short range of "long-ranged weapons", such as mobile heavy artillery normally only being able to shoot 1800 meters.**

 **Structural integrity field technology (i.e. health bar) is the only possible reason why units are either fighting at full capacity, or suffering critical existence failure. This technology should also be able to block sensors from penetrating into a unit, thus preventing stealing of tech between the factions. It redistributes mass to fill in damage, as well as spread out all damage taken across the entire hull. The result is that it is best against pinpoint or brief strikes, more efficient the higher the energy that hits it to the point of yield vs. damage being logarithmic. It is also FAR less effective against sustained damage i.e. continuous beam weapons like he Heavy Microwave Laser or Phason Laser. When the field is completely drained, the unit suffers critical structural failure as well as self-destruct to obliterate all the classified technologies onboard. The base hull materials are left behind as wreckage, but all the sensitive tech, onboard schematics, etc. are long since gone…**

 **Finally, it is unreasonable to think that a faction which has produced an Ascended Being (Rhianne) who can use Black Sun to remove everyone's rose-tinted glasses (e.g. brainwash everyone into giving up fighting) doesn't have psionic technology. It would be downright foolish to think that the UEF and Cybrans wouldn't have countermeasures to such psionic technology, and that the Aeon don't have it for privacy purposes. In other words, the three human factions all have Psi Disruptors of some type or description, and the Seraphim almost certainly had them too.**

 **With all these implications of SupCom canon in mind, let us venture forth.**

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 **A/N:** This is an archive, of the Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance "standard roster" (e.g. in-game) units that **I** **use in** **my** **fics**. **Most stats (speed, mass, etc.) are from canon (wiki)** unless otherwise stated. However a **few have been rebalanced** , though some of these like the Snoop are canon as of patch 3603. Some of them were changed toward Forged Alliance Forever stats (Tier 2 MMLs), others my own rebalance while keeping in mind keeping more units viable (see Spearhead). To find the Seraphim War era (e.g. Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance) stats, well, I almost always state the old stats when I make any changes to unit mass or speed, SOMEWHERE in the notes at the very least.

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 **Codex Entry 1: Standard Roster Land Factory Units, 3850 Edition**

 _January 1, 3850_

It has been over a year since the Seraphim War (ended in late 3848, with the Quantum Rift sealed in August of that year). Some units have been rebalanced since the end of the Seraphim War, due to innovation since the end of the war and analysis of technologies between the four factions. The Seraphim Republics, formed from dissidents who left the so-called Seraphim Imperium (actually an electronic hybrid democracy, the name was apparently some sort of cultural in-joke…) and aided the Coalition humans in their war against the Imperium invaders, have been accepted grudgingly by the human factions as a Coalition member.

United are listed in tiers, with order being UEF, Cybran, Aeon and Seraphim. Unique units are always listed last within their tier.

Economy note: It was during the Seraphim War that the human factions reverse-engineered mantle tapping tech from the Seraphim, which is why extractors are much more effective than they used to be. This was important especially as, due to the issues with the QGN exploding and its quantum wakes, mass fabricators became far less cost-effective than before. Of course, video games do grossly exaggerate the efficiency of Infinite War era fabricators… 40 energy for 1 mass is nuts!

Naval units are described by LWHD for Length, Width, Height, Draft, while hovering units or parked aircraft are LWHC, with the C for ground clearance. These labels will be specially written only for unit types that warrant it. **All LWH/LWHC/LWHD measurements are in METERS.**

All modern units, unlike their Seraphim War counterparts, now have passive health regeneration except the Mercy. Regeneration is at the full rate stated in this document when the unit is stopped/landed (aircraft have the landed value listed) and not firing. HP and Time Cost will also be listed. Land and Naval units regenerate at half rate when moving, and do not regenerate at all when reloading every weapon at once. Each secondary weapon system idle lends usually about 10% normal regen, with things like the Siren and Ithalua as obvious complexities as they have multiple primary weapons. Air units do not regenerate at all when out of fuel, with similar weapons rules to ground and naval units, and regenerate at half the given rate when cruising with fuel.

The general guideline for regeneration rates is that Tier 1 land and air units should reach full HP in about 300 seconds idle time, double that for naval. Tier 2 land and air units should reach full HP in about 500-600 seconds, about 800 for naval except cruisers (which are faster when idle due to being very multi-role), Tier 3 land and air units should reach full HP in about 800-1200 seconds, depending on the unit, while naval units vary wildly. Experimental units' regeneration is a completely different matter. Regeneration is basically irrelevant except in particularly protracted skirmishing, or for defensive units under a shield.

 **The first few entries are note-heavy to aid comprehension. The notes are shorter later on except experimental units, but may contain crucial changes. Surprisingly, the basic line-up is still the same in terms of the units as the Seraphim War era, since apparently flexibility in load-out is valued in terms of which modifications and such specific commanders wish to bring…**

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 **NOTE: TIME COSTS**

Factories build at speed 20 per tier (20, 40, and 60 respectively). Engineers are a quarter of an equal tier factory's speed (5, 10, and 15 respectively). ACUs build at 10, 30 and 90 with stock, Tier 2 and Tier 3 Engineering Suites respectively. SCUs build at 60 stock and 90 when upgraded. Shoulder drones for UEF command units basically are each a flying Tier 1 engineer. Certain factory units build things much faster than the standard factories, they will be noted.

The Kennel (UEF Tier 2 Engineering Station) in canon has a build rate of 20 when replacing its engineer drones, which each build at rate 15 in the latest patch (I call BS on the cost of replacing them though) but can only assist other engineers in construction, not build anything alone. I say the engineering power to volume ratio is insane (and 500 tons would be absurdly dense), and in my head-canon nerfed them down to 5 build rate, but gave the Kennel 3 drones when stock and 6 upgraded. The unlimited radius is also insane so I'd think they should be limited to 10 kilometers. The Hive on the other hand deserves its 15, 30 and 45 engineering speed (2 upgrades).

Only one of these "standard roster" units is completely new since the Seraphim War (Selen-2) and considered non-canonical for re-enactments of those battles in video games.

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 **Tier 1 Land Scouts** : UEF Snoop, Cybran Mole, Aeon Spirit, and Seraphim Selen

All of these cost 80 time units, so 4 seconds for a Tier 1 Land Factory

 **UEF Snoop** : 24 tons, 90 m/s, LWH 15-6-5.5, 29 HP (+0.1/sec).

Vision 24 (480m), Radar 45 (900m)

Tomcat Machinegun: 2 DPS, 2 per 1 second at 25 range.

By examination to scale next to a Tier 1 Wall Section, the Tomcat Machinegun of the Seraphim War era was about 150mm calibre, firing every 2 seconds at 500 m/s, doing 2 points of damage. **This is for stealth reasons** , as in how **you can see a wreck appear 80km away through the horizon from your ACU's sensors** , but cannot even get an idea on **where even the largest enemy units** (or **flying plasma bolts/beams** ) **are unless you have "radar" or "visual" in the area**. The shells should be high explosive squash head (AKA "high explosive plastic") to maximize the energy transferred into the structural field for their speed and mass. Onboard reactors provide the mass and energy needed to operate the weapons of Coalition units, but due to the complexity and cost of systems to transfer mass and energy into the battle network, those systems are not fitted to non-economic units/structures.

The updated 3850 Edition has improved the firepower by boosting the rate of fire. It can now match up to the Spirit reasonably well, despite the inferior hit chance. Please note that I am using the "NOT AN ABSTRACTION of 1.5 rounds per second" to not require HUGE mass generation capacity for onboard "reactors".

 **Cybran Mole** : 16 tons, 96 m/s, LWH 8-12-4, 15 HP (+0.1/sec).

Personal Stealth, Vision 24, Radar 50

Unarmed

The Mole has been changed since the Seraphim War to carry personal stealth instead of cloaking (eliminating the potential energy drain), and have a longer radar range. It can now remain useful until Omni starts becoming commonplace within range of the front lines. They by default stay out of or escape visual range as quickly as possible, shadowing the enemy and observing their perimeter movements and expansion efforts by radar, without visual identification… The speed is a necessity to be able to go around obstacles (trees, cacti, etc.) instead of knocking them over, which can give away the presence of a unit from across the operational area (if they can spot a tiny wreck showing up, a tree falling is noticeable).

 **Aeon Spirit** : 16 tons, 100 m/s hover, LWHC 10-11-3-5, 20 HP (+0.1/sec).

Vision 24, Radar 50

Light Laser: 1 DPS, 2 per 2 seconds at 25 range.

The Spirit is the Aeon answer to UEF Snoop kiting of Aurora Hover Tanks and Flare Light Assault Bots, as it can outrun the Snoop, dodge its shells quite well, and almost never miss with its Light Laser. The Disruptor Cannon of the Aurora has a rather slow muzzle velocity (600 m/s) in-atmosphere, which Snoops can evade easily under their combat AI control despite having less range than the hover tank due to their high speed. Light Assault Bots chasing land scouts are at a disadvantage in speed AND range, but can evade Snoop shots well enough. Spirits on the other hand are a continual pesky annoyance that must be run down by air units… or one-shot by enough light artillery that they cannot be dodged.

Unfortunately, due to power creep in sensor tech, boosting the radar range by 5 while keeping the high speed (the highest of any land unit) meant the structural field rating decreased from 23 to 20 since the Seraphim War. This is one of very few Aeon hover units to actually have a fully traversing turret, since the top speed can only be maintained going forward, so hull traverse is actually relevant here, and hover units are known to have bad hull traverse.

The icon has changed to have the top half of the rotated-square ("diamond") of a tank icon replaced by a semicircle, to show it is a surface-amphibious unit.

 **Seraphim Selen** : 40 tons, 80 m/s, LWH 8-4-12.5, 35 HP (+0.1/sec)

Personal Stealth, Personal Cloak, Vision 24, Radar 40

Light Phasic Autogun: 12 DPS, 4 per 1/3 second at 16 range.

The Selen is classed as a Combat Scout, and since the Seraphim War has had its Radar range upgraded from 35 to 40. It still gets kited easily by its rivals though, especially the Spirit. The Selen is often used to block mass deposits, as engineers cannot build on one while a Selen is on top, holding fire and maintaining personal cloak and stealth. Only an ACU at Tier 1 can spot a Selen that is doing this… but engineers that encounter this will automatically notify their commander of a need for an escort (if none is assigned) to shoot the Selen into moving or to pieces. It still costs the enemy valuable time and distracts them though.

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 **Tier 1 Light Assault Bots** : UEF Mech Marine, Cybran Hunter, Aeon Flare, and Seraphim Selen-2

Light Assault bots (and Selen Combat Scouts) are the only units able fire their weapons within certain range envelopes from aboard transports, creating "ghetto gunships"

 **UEF Mech Marine** : 70 tons, 80m/s, LWH 4-8-7.5, 75 HP (+0.2/sec), 140 Time units

Vision 18

(Paired) Tomcat Machinegun: Total 21 DPS, 7 per 1/3 second at 14 range (280m).

The Mech Marine is the culmination of the tendency of old men to want to make "super-soldiers" to do the grunt work for them while they lounge back with their harem, pampering AKA babying the silver-spoon spoilt brats. (This Codex is written by a Cybran)

The unit is still effective, despite its shortcomings of 500m/s muzzle velocity without splash damage. The weapons can elevate from + 70 degrees through -160 degrees for Mech Marines, and normally rest at -50 degrees (e.g. mostly down toward the ground). This means it can shoot somewhat behind itself when on a Ghetto Gunship. Left-right traverse is very minimal though when on transports.

Compared to a Tier 1 Wall Section, the Mech Marine should be slinging shells between 350mm to 400mm from its two forearm guns, at a rate of 1.5 shots per gun per second and muzzle velocity equalling the Snoop (500 m/s). Calculation using structural field damage (7 points) presuming a non-linear (logarithmic) scale says this should be about a 375mm HESH-equivalent shell… with 3800s tech base.

 **Cybran Hunter** : 70 tons, 80m/s, LWH 10-4-9.5, 65 HP (+0.2/sec), 140 Time units

Vision 18

Light Pulse Laser: 21 DPS, 3x7 per second (so a burst of 3 shots, each second, not like the Mech Marine's sustained fire) at 14 range.

The Hunter has the advantage of very rarely missing (occasional miscalculations do occur) which overcomes its HP disadvantage. The lack of reactor power availability despite not needing to generate mass for ammo is caused by the difficulty of creating an effective laser weapon that dissipates quickly enough beyond the distance its stealth can hold up for, to prevent reliable trace-back to the emitter.

Gun wiggle room left to right aboard transports is rather limited, but the arcs are normally +/- 90 degrees up-down, which means, given how Hunters are picked up by transports, effectively equivalent front-back gun arcs to the Mech Marine

 **Aeon Flare** : 70 tons, 80m/s, LWH 10-4-7.5, 70 HP (+0.2/sec), 140 Time units

Vision 18

Sonic Pulsar: 21 DPS, 3x7 per second at 14 range.

While the weapon is SLOW (speed of sound), it does have conical splash damage, which both improves the ability to hit the target, and can damage multiple targets at once sometimes. Like other LAB weapons it is not effective against structural fields at more than about 280 meters range. It disperses too much very quickly thereafter as the projected stealth field falls apart and interference can be generated by other units' structural fields vibrating, once the frequency of a particular pulse set is identified.

It is considered very efficient at disposing of fleeing civilians who are not protected by structural fields or thick barriers, as the Flare is easy to spam en masse to purge population centers while the main force continues onward. Damage by the sonic Pulsar to nearby wildlife is extremely obvious and noticeable even on strategic view, but it usually takes enough time to start being obvious (i.e. for everything to drop dead) that it doesn't provide a good target lock, unlike how lasers would behave.

 **Seraphim Selen-2** : 40 tons, 80m/s, LWH 8-5-12.5, 35 HP (+0.2/sec), 80 Time units

Vision 18, Radar 35

2x Light Phasic Autogun: Each 10 DPS, 4 per 0.4 seconds at range 15

This compromise design was made shortly after the Seraphim War, and is slated for replacement soon with a dedicated early raiding unit. Seraphim commander usually only carry one of the two Selen family designs to make more room for Alternative/Prototype designs that they find more useful. The Selen-2 is still not considered competitive with the other Light Assault Bots, unfortunately.

Visual sensors and weapons stealth have been reduced (vision 18 from 24, range 15 from 16 due to being unable to avoid APS as long), and the stealth and cloaking system stripped out altogether to give the modified Selen a waist and thus the ability to shoot back while fleeing. It is also 1 meter wider than the original due to being armed on both sides of the main hull.

* * *

 **Tier 1 Early Tanks** : UEF MA12 Striker, Cybran Mantis, Aeon Aurora and Seraphim Thaam

Tier 1 land factory has 20 build rate, so Strikers cost 14 seconds, Mantises and Auroras 13, and Thaams 13.5 seconds from a Tier 1 land factory.

 **UEF MA12 Striker** : 112 tons, 66 m/s, LWH 17-11-7.5, 300 HP (+1/sec), 280 Time units.

Vision 20

Gauss Cannon: 24 DPS, 24 per 1 second at range 18.

This is rebranded from Medium Tank to Early Tank due to work on Tier 3 tanks, after observing the Seraphim Othuum. It is a steadfast and unremarkable unit, with gun elevation +/- 45 degrees, except over the front (rear-mounted turret).

 **Cybran Mantis** : 104 tons, 72 m/s, LWH 18-16-11, 260 HP (+0.2/sec), 260 Time units.

Engineering 1/sec, Vision 20

(Paired) Light Pulse Laser: Total 24 DPS, 8 per 1/3 second at range 18

This is labelled an Early Bot as per the other factions renaming their Tier 1 tanks. The Hunter doesn't see much use in the Cybran arsenal because the Mantis is only a little slower, can almost guarantee hits, and can repair or assist construction. Given the time cost versus the engineering capacity, this means +1 HP per second regeneration if you have a group of Mantises. However, they cannot do engineering and combat at the same time, and cannot reclaim wreckage. Due to the engineering suite, passive regeneration was not something the engineers put much mass into, since for the vast majority of units it didn't work in combat anyhow.

The Mantis is the equal of the other Tier 1 heavy units largely due to its speed and the accuracy of its weapon system. In one on one combat it's not as good as the Striker or Thaam, but it can run away to repair. The gun elevation is +/- 45 degrees like the Striker.

The icon is now a tank icon instead of a bot icon, to reflect its actual role in combat and prevent confusion between the Hunter and Mantis for Cybran pilots.

 **Aeon Aurora** : 104 tons, 60 m/s hover, LWHC 21-18-6.5-4.5, 140 HP (+0.4/sec), 260 time units

Vision 20

Disruptor Cannon: 80/3 DPS, 40 per 1.5 seconds at range 26

Labelled "Tier 1 Hover Tank", as the Aeon have a grounded Early Tank design in the works. The turret can only traverse 10 degrees to each side and 20 degrees up or down. Most of the traversing is done by the hull.

This vehicle's hull forms the basis for the Aeon Tier 1 Hover Unit Pack that commanders may choose to field in whole or in part if they expect to fight over an archipelago very, VERY early on, before naval units can be brought to bear, or even become affordable for that matter.

The top half of the icon is now a semicircle to show it's a surface amphibious unit.

 **Seraphim Thaam** : 108 tons, 68 m/s, LWH 25-15-8, 280 HP (+0.9/sec), 270 time units

Vision 20

Oh Spectra Cannon: 24 DPS, 32 per 4/3 seconds at range 18

Renamed from Medium Tank due to work on a Tier 2 tank in the Seraphim Republics. Other than being characteristically asymmetric as per Seraphim design, elevation angles are limited to +/- 30 degrees, unlike the Striker or Mantis.

The Seraphim Republics would like to state that whoever in the video game industry decided to model the gun of the Thaam as being over the left, smaller track pod should never, ever, under any circumstances become an engineer. The gun is mounted in an exposed turret with the sensors and such on the other strut out from the hull/turret hub point, and is positioned over the vehicle's right hand side track pod, which is far bigger and thus can spread weight better.

For the Othuum Siege Tank however the modelling error in most video games is reversed from the Thaam's misfortune (i.e. the left side has more track pods to spread weight over, and the gun is often shown on the right), ugh…

* * *

 **Tier 1 Mobile AA** : UEF Archer, Cybran Sky Slammer, Aeon Thistle, and Seraphim Ia-istle

A Tier 1 Land Factory can build one of these in 7 seconds. They are weak, but can easily be massed if need be.

 **UEF Archer** : 56 tons, 56 m/s, LWH 13-8-6.5, 200 HP (+0.6 HP/sec), 140 time units

Vision 18

Linked Railgun: 16 DPS, 2x8 per second at range 32

The Archer moves on four wheels which look like track pods except on close inspection, and is quite unremarkable with a near-pyramidal appearance. It is ineffective against Tier 3 air units as they are simply too agile for it to reliably hit them.

 **Cybran Sky Slammer** : 56 tons, 58 m/s, LWH 11-8-4, 130 HP (+0.4 HP/sec), 140 time units

Vision 18

Nanodart Launcher (STA mode): 16 DPS, 8 per 0.5 seconds at range 32

Nanodart Launcher (STS mode): 20 DPS, 10 per 0.5 seconds at range 18

This chassis has six wheels, though they are unlike the depictions in most video games, even those made by Cybrans, where the positioning of the wheels/tracks on Cybran vehicles almost always makes the hull overhang in front absurdly huge. The front wheels/tracks are in reality always very close to the front of the vehicle, to make getting stuck somewhere even more impossible than is already the case thanks to structural field tech being useful for getting unstuck.

The Sky Slammer has less health than the others, but the Nanodart Launcher tracks its targets (though muzzle velocity is low, so hitting tier 3s is difficult other than gunships) and when there are no air units to engage, will be used in anti-ground fire (with abysmal accuracy) for cheap DPS against buildings.

 **Aeon Thistle** : 56 tons, 60m/s, LWH 19-17-8, 200 HP (+0.6/sec), 140 time units

Vision 18

Sonic Pulse Battery: 15 DPS, 3x5 per 1 second at range 32

The Thistle has a front and a rear track pod, with two sweeping "wings" coming from near the rear, screening the core body from damage, more or less. They actually contribute to the mobility by housing some inertial control systems, among other things. The Sonic Pulse Battery does not in fact use sonic energy at any point before impact. It even LOOKS like an energy bolt!

 **Seraphim Ia-istle** : 56 tons, 50 m/s, LWH 12-10-9, 200 HP (+0.6/sec), 140 time units

Vision 18

Shleo AA Autogun: 16 DPS, 2x4 per 0.5 seconds at range 32

This is technically a Bot, but it is agreed that changing the icon wasn't worthwhile as it wasn't causing any confusion anyways.

Regeneration: 0.6 HP/sec (Sky Slammer only has 0.4 HP/sec) HP 200 except the Sky Slammer's 130, time 140 units.

* * *

 **Tier 1 Mobile Light Artillery** : UEF Lobo, Cybran Medusa, Aeon Fervor, and Seraphim Zthuee

Each of these takes 9 seconds at a Tier 1 Land Factory, except the Medusa which takes 12.

 **UEF Lobo** : 72 tons, 56 m/s, LWH 20-7-6.5, 205 HP (+0.6/sec), 180 time units

Vision 18, Shell Cam Vision radius 5 with duration 5 seconds

Fragmentation Artillery: 60 DPS, 5x120 (a splitting shell) per 10 seconds at range 5-30, splash radius 1, with Shell Cam ability.

The Lobo is the only one of the four Tier 1 artillery pieces that can really shoot and scoot, as it has by far the longest reload. It can be used to observe the condition of the enemy defences while inflicting damage, though due to the erratic nature of the fragmentation, the single-target DPS tends to average around 30 or so.

 **Cybran Medusa** : 96 tons, 58 m/s, LWH 12-9-8, 140 HP (+0.4/sec). 240 time units

Vision 18

7

EMP Grenade Launcher: 39 DPS, 195 per 5 seconds at range 5-30, splash radius 2, has stun effect.

The Medusa is expensive because the area stun ability (not an EMP per se, but the old name stuck) is a big deal, in cost as well as in power. This little Tier 1 unit remains relevant well into Tier 2 and beyond. It is true that the stun only lasts 3 seconds, but it only takes two Medusas (with the timing their combat AI will settle into automatically) to _permanently stun_ almost any ground, air or naval unit from Tier 1 or 2 (except Salems and derivatives on land). Now, to be clear, stunning a unit only means rendering it unable to move or operate weapons, essentially locking up the structural field. It does NOT mean making hovering units crash.

The Medusa is not very accurate, but a mass of them make for a cheap force multiplier in Tier 2 battles, or even into tier 3 against the Seraphim, as the highly popular Ilshavoh is Tier 2 and therefore susceptible to these EMP grenades. Given the UEF only has a Tier 2 Hover Army to work with, and the Seraphim would have problems with massive overkill with their late-phase hovering army (Usha-Ah snipers, Iashavohs, and Athanahs) the Medusa is effective even very late in the course of battles.

 **Aeon Fervor** : 72 tons, 54 m/s, LWH 16-8-5, 150 HP (+0.5 HP/sec), 180 time units

Vision 18

Concussion Artillery: 100 DPS, 200 per 2 seconds at range 5-30, splash radius 0.5

This Aeon unit is extremely good for tearing down structures very quickly, and is in fact the cheapest DPS the Coalition has. It is almost useless against mobile units though as even mild evasiveness will dodge the high-angle fire with trivial ease.

 **Seraphim Zthuee** : 72 tons, 54m/s hover, LWHC 4-11-4-3, 170 HP (+0.6 HP/sec), 180 time units

Vision 18

Thuntho Artillery: 75 DPS, 5x45 (a splitting shell) per 3 seconds at range 6-30, splash radius 1.5

The Zthuee is labelled "Tier 1 Light Hover Artillery", it traverses its weapon mostly by hover control, though it IS physically capable of turning it 10 degrees in either direction.

This hull forms the basis of the Seraphim Tier 1 Hover Unit Pack that pilots can choose to bring, in whole or in part, in their schematics bays, if they expect to be fighting over an archipelago very, very early. See Modifications for that. Please note the dimensions are given with gun in rest position.

The top half of this icon is now a semicircle to denote its amphibious nature.

* * *

 **Tier 1 Engineer** : All 104 tons, 38 m/s, 260 time units (13 seconds at Tier 1 Factories)

All: Engineering 5/sec, Vision 18

UEF: LWH 11-10-8, 150 HP (+1/sec)

Cybran: LWH 10-10-8, 145 HP (+1/sec)

Aeon: LWHC (hover) 10-11-9-4, 120 HP (+1/sec)

Seraphim Iya-istle: LWHC (hover) 15-11-7-7, 125 HP (+1/sec)

The Aeon and Seraphim engineers hover, so are immune to torpedoes, but turn around slower. The Cybran and Aeon units are omni-directional builders, while UEF has a fast-turning turret for building, and Seraphim has a limited-arc turret. These traits carry up the three tiers of engineers.

The draft of the Cybran engineers is 2, 3, and 5 meters up the tiers due to use of the wheels as pontoons and their buggy hulls, while the UEF engineers also have 2m, 3m and 5m draft using their boat-like hull bottoms with the tracks sealing up to form pontoons. Whoever believes video games which show the UEF engineer tracks actually folding UNDER the hull… must think UEF designers are all morons with regards to hydrodynamics.

These have no icon changes, because everyone knows how engineer icons look different from everything else.

* * *

 **Tier 2 Intermediate Tanks (and analogue)** : UEF Pillar, Cybran Rhino, Aeon Obsidian, and Seraphim Ilshavoh

The Pillar and Rhino take 22 seconds at a Tier 2 Land Factory, the Obsidian and Ilshavoh take 40 seconds.

 **UEF Pillar** : 396 tons, 66 m/s, LWH 25-13-9, 1500 HP (+3/sec), 880 time units

Vision 20

(Twin) Gauss Cannon: 56 DPS, 2x35 per 1.25 seconds at range 23

The Pillar has been rebranded from "Heavy Tank" and improved greatly in durability since the Seraphim War, from 1200 HP to 1500. This has helped it become less cost-ineffective compared to the Obsidian. However, it still isn't cost-effective compared to the Obsidian, nor is it able to match up to the Obsidian even 2v1 in a straight fight. It doesn't usually need to, because it has both speed and range advantage! The Pillar (and Rhino for that matter) can be kited by the Mongoose, but the sheer durability advantage makes up for it on the assault or when elastic defence is impossible… even though the Obsidian is better at that role too, the UEF only has this to work with.

 **Cybran Rhino** : 396 tons, 66 m/s, LWH 23-16-6, 1100 HP (+2/sec), 880 time units

Vision 20

(Twin) Particle Cannon: 72 DPS, 2x18 per 0.5 seconds at range 23

The Rhino has made a comeback since the Seraphim War, from 775 HP to 1000 despite the re-label. It still didn't catch back up to the Pillar despite beating the UEF tank in duels before the Seraphim War, but during the Seraphim War the Pillar was hugely upgraded and the Rhino fell behind, so it's better off than it used to be. It has a great advantage over the Pillar in its not missing shots, and if the Pillar is forced into a stern chase, then firing Gauss Cannons above the stated max range will cause targeting the shooter to be easier, and the Rhino can be sure of hitting every shot while weaving back and forth to disrupt the Pillar's aim (though this also costs it some of the distance). The Rhino firmly remains the Cybran unit of choice for crowd control of Tier 1 units during the Tier 2 phase of a battle, while the Wagner is more valued for Tier 2 versus Tier 2 slugfests.

 **Aeon Obsidian** : 720 tons, 60 m/s, LWH 24-22-9, 900 HP (+2/sec) + 1600 shield (+10/sec, 40 seconds to reset), 1600 time units

Surface Shield (-10 energy/sec, 1600 power, +10/sec, 40 sec reset), Vision 20

Quantum Cannon: 120 DPS, 480 per 4 seconds at range 20

Relabelled from Heavy Tank, because Tier 2 tanks really come in a few flavors: all-rounders like these, skirmishing amphibious tanks, and a few more specialized modifications.

In support of base defence or an assault on a cornered enemy, the Obsidian handily smacks down all standard-roster Tier 2 direct-fire land units (unless you count the Salem destroyers when they walk on land…). However, the range is so short and the speed low enough that it has a very serious problem with being kited when on the march in the field. The result is that the Blaze also has great popularity.

The Obsidian's surface-type personal shield (commonly called "Surface shield" as contrast with "Bubble shields") has been improved in regeneration while active from 2 to 10 per second, and the reset time has been improved from 75 seconds to a more reasonable 40 seconds. Full power is still 1600 rating points though, due to rating point creep over time.

Please note that due to the surface shield standing 2 meters off the hull, the shot that finally pierces any surface shield tends to lose about 1.5 times the remaining charge of the surface shield in its ability to inflict structural integrity field damage. This means that an Obsidian can withstand a single 3000 alpha hit with about 300 HP left, but 2x1500 or 3x1000 will slag it.

Despite how good the Obsidian is, Aeon commanders often rush to Tier 3 as quickly as possible, because the Harbinger is simply more cost-effective except when dealing with Overcharge.

 **Seraphim Ilshavoh** : 720 tons, 58 m/s, LWH 20-20-21, 2300 HP (+5/sec), 1600 time units

Vision 20

(Paired) Aire-au Bolters: Total 105 DPS, 35 per 1/3 seconds at range 26

Still labelled an "Intermediate Assault Bot", but considered equivalent to Intermediate Tanks. It has a tank icon to reflect its role.

This is one of the very few visibly symmetrical Seraphim units. It is a bread and butter unit of every Seraphim army, and is widely employed alongside Othuums into Tier 3 and beyond, as Ythothas do not make for good Experimental firing lines thanks to the Othuy. A Seraphim commander without Ilshavohs, except on extremely naval-oriented campaigns or just having gated in, is most likely losing badly. This unit is why rushing to Tier 2 is an attractive strategy for a Seraphim commander.

* * *

 **Tier 2 Medium Bot** : UEF Mongoose, Cybran Hoplite

Either one takes 25 seconds at a Tier 2 Land Factory.

 **UEF Mongoose** : 400 tons, 72m/s, LWH 19-18-17.5, 650 HP (+1.2/sec), 1000 time units

Vision 26

Light Gatling Plasma Cannon: 32 DPS, 15x16 (in 2.8 seconds) per 7.5 seconds at range 34

Light Fragmentation Grenade Launcher: 26 DPS, 65x3 (in 0.4 seconds) per 7.5 seconds at range 34, splash radius 2 (40 meters)

The Mongoose did not fare well with structural field tech refinements since the Infinite War, when it had 900 HP upon introduction. There was also a downgrade of hubris in weapon naming with the 3850 standardization and codex, in that these weapons are marked down as being Light compared to other variants of the same technology. The weapons have also been adjusted from 15 per shot and a burst per 7 seconds, and 4 grenades every 10 seconds, to the current state of synchronized alpha-strike delivery to improve hit and run capability in the hands of the combat AI.

Despite the new frailty, the Mongoose's potency as a weapon is only affected enough that it is no longer vastly overused compared to the Pillar thanks to mobility, alpha strike, splash, and range. Its inability to beat the Hoplite sans ambush due to worse range is typical of how the UEF isn't as good as the Cybrans at building fast units (the Titan also gets this against the Loyalist).

 **Cybran Hoplite** : 400 tons, 72m/s, LWH 30-28-17.5, 550 HP (+1/sec), 1000 time units

Vision 26

Iridium Rocket Pack: 45 DPS, 3x60 per 4 seconds at range 37, splash radius 2 (40m)

The Hoplite also suffered HP loss due to structural field tech changes since the Infinite War. However, it remains an able skirmisher and excellent for kiting any enemy. Beware gunships and Mobile Missile Launchers though, for MMLs are regaining the ability to track targets to some reliability, something they lost during the Seraphim War. And then there's the use of stealth fields to hide charging amphibious tanks of the same two factions which can eat these bots easily with vastly better DPS, HP and better speed… Aeon and Seraphim amphibious tanks are less effective due to being grossly weaker units than the UEF and Cybran ones.

The Hoplite can fold all its legs under itself to only take up one clamp on a transport.

* * *

 **Tier 2 Amphibious Tanks** : UEF Riptide, Cybran Wagner, Aeon Blaze, and Seraphim Yenzyne

These take a Tier 2 Land Factory 33 seconds for UEF and Cybran, and 22 seconds for the others. Their hulls form the basis of each faction's Tier 2 Hover (or Amphibious) Unit Packs (listed in a later Codex chapter).

 **UEF Riptide** : 594 tons, 74m/s hover, LWHC 20-15-6-2.5, 1700 HP (+3/sec), 1320 time units

Vision 15

(Twin) Hell's Fury Riot Gun: 84 DPS, 2x14 per 1/3 second at range 18

The icon has been changed to have the top half be a semicircle, as per a surface amphibious (e.g. usually hovering) unit.

The Riptide is better at ambush match-ups than the other Amphibious Tanks, but the only one it can actually ambush is the Wagner… because the others can hover backwards at full speed, while the Wagner has to turn around to flee at full speed, or back up at less than that. In ambush, both beginning in range of one another the Riptide will often edge out a marginal win, or they draw. The main problem here is the range of the Riptide, which doesn't allow for trying to dodge the Wagner's Meson Rocket during a pursuit. If it could dodge that even once, then the Riptide wins easily.

 **Cybran Wagner** : 594 tons, 74m/s, LWH 17-14-5, 1450 HP (+2.5/sec), 1320 time units

Vision 15, Water Vision 20

(Twin) Electron Bolter: 50 DPS, 2x50 per 2 seconds at range 22

Meson Rocket: 50 DPS, 200 per 4 seconds at range 22

Meson Torpedo: 15 DPS, 60 per 4 seconds at range 32

This is the only bottom-crawling Amphibious Tank, which can mean interesting ambushes out of shallow bodies of water, such as rivers. The bottom half of the icon has been changed to a semicircle to reflect this.

The post-Seraphim War optimization of the Wagner involved making the Meson Rocket partially guided, which helps hit rate. Video gamers should note that the torpedo is much better than games advertise, because the purpose of real war machines is to be as unbalanced as physically possible against their competition.

 **Aeon Blaze** : 440 tons, 78m/s hover, LWHC 29-18-6.5-3, 1050 HP (+2/sec), 880 time units

Vision 15

(Twin) Quantum Autogun: Total 45 DPS, 15 per 1/3 second at range 23.

The speed has been tuned up from the old 74m/s to make it better at chasing down Mongoose and Hoplite bots, with help from Asylum mobile shield generators, which can keep pace to a degree (speed 80 m/s). The other statistics have not changed since the Seraphim War.

 **Seraphim Yenzyne** : 440 tons, 82m/s hover, LWHC 22-14-9.5-3, 1300 HP (+2.4/sec), 880 time units

Vision 15

Tau Cannon: 43.75 DPS, 175 per 4 seconds at range 20

This is the weakest of the Amphibious Tanks, but still has its uses in batting away Mongooses and Hoplites with its new, much higher speed from Seraphim observations of Aeon hover tech, and improved Tau cannon (from 18 range). If the opponents choose to stand and fight with tank support, then the Ilshavohs that form most of a Tier 2 Seraphim army can carve through the tanks before the pursuit of the bots resumes.

* * *

 **A/N:** I'm using the costs from my copy of FA instead of what the wiki says because the wiki and whatever the new balance is seem quite unreasonable on making the Riptide massively (363 vs 297) more expensive than the Wagner while being basically the same effectiveness (1700 HP and 81 DPS vs 1450 and 100). The Blaze and Yenzyne have also been buffed to be less miserable. The Blaze was buffed less due to kiting being standard AI protocol in my head-canon. It is now able to kite the Titan (marginally due to Titan range improvement), but not the Loyalist.

Yes, the Riptide still loses to everything else in a fight, the UEF just isn't very good at making fast units (the Mongoose is a bright spot though), but the modifications are good enough…

* * *

 **Tier 2 Mobile Flak** : UEF Sky Boxer, Cybran Banger, Aeon Ascendant, and Seraphim Iashavoh

Any of these take 20 seconds at a Tier 2 Land Factory. All of these were popular as a means of quickly slaughtering exposed civilian populations when firing at the ground, as used in ground-fire they used to be fairly weak. Literally all of them can fire at 45 degrees depression or 115 degrees elevation i.e. back over their heads!

 **UEF Sky Boxer** : 320 tons, 56 m/s, LWH 21-13-7, 1200 HP (+2/second), 800 time units

Vision 20

(Twin) Fragmentation Flak: Total 144 DPS, 2x36 per 0.5 second at range 40, splash radius 4

The Sky Boxer has been improved in durability, as it was the weakest and slowest, considered the worst mobile flak of the lot. A modification is now also available that enables it to attack ground units to good effect. As Fragmentation Grenade Launchers are a related technology, the modification is popular, somewhat effective, and relatively inexpensive, though there are certain caveats…

 **Cybran Banger** : 320 tons, 58 m/s, LWH 21-16-11, 1000 HP (+2/sec), 800 time units

Vision 20, Radar 45

(Quad) Electron Flak: Total 150 initial DPS, 4x30 per 0.8 second at range 40, splash radius 4, then 1 second damage over time for up to 50 more damage within that radius.

The Banger's very obvious "Radar" system has only been used for weapon directing for a long time with the passing of innovations. No longer. While only enough in sensors was squished in to give 45 radar radius, barely over the weapon range, at least it's better than nothing. The AA DPS is higher than its rivals, and hovering enemies who do not escape the splash area fast enough will suffer more damage due to the electromagnetic storm effect.

However, the anti-ground modification option, which makes it actually effective in anti-ground roles other than killing enemy civilians, is much weaker than the Sky Boxer due to how Electron Flak operates…

 **Aeon Ascendant** : 320 tons, 72 m/s hover, LWHC 19-19-5.5-3, 1000 HP (+2/sec), 800 time units

Vision 20

Temporal Fizz Launcher: Total 144 DPS, 72 per 0.5 seconds at radius 40, splash radius 4

The Ascendant hovers (top half of icon is now a semicircle), and is much superior to the Sky Boxer or Banger by this fact alone. The anti-ground modification is useful only to a degree.

 **Seraphim Iashavoh** : 320 tons, 72m/s hover, LWHC 22-19-16-6.5, 1000 HP (+2/sec), 800 time units

Vision 20

Olaris AA Artillery: Total 144 DPS, 72 per 0.5 seconds at radius 40, splash radius 4

The Iashavoh is functionally identical to the Ascendant (top half of icon is also now a semicircle), other than being a bigger target and thus easier to hit (though it's also easier to miss, due to the gap in the middle). It is a great alternative to the excellent Ithalua on water, because it's much cheaper, and cannot be targeted by torpedoes.

* * *

 **Tier 2 Mobile Missile Launchers** : UEF Flapjack, Cybran Viper, Aeon Evensong, and Seraphim Ythisah

Each of these takes 25 seconds at a Tier 2 Land Factory.

Only Tactical Missile Defences are capable of penetrating the stealth of tactical missiles, and thus shooting them down. Regaining target tracking, which was lost in the Seraphim War, has greatly restored the standing of MMLs in the line-up of the four factions.

 **UEF Flapjack** : 400 tons, 56 m/s, LWH 27-12-10.5, 825 HP (+1.2/sec), 1000 time units

Vision 18

Cruise Missile: 62 DPS, 310 per 5 seconds at range 5-60, splash radius 1.5

Hubris was dialled down from the old UEF classification of "Long Range Cruise Missile", which to be honest was completely laughable as a claim since the standard firing range is only 1200 meters on this particular platform, and missile lifetime is only 20 seconds after launch, after which it will be shot down by simplified APS systems that are all over the modern battlefield as the stealth system onboard fails. It was 300 per 5 seconds during the Seraphim War.

 **Cybran Viper** : 400 tons, 58 m/s, LWH 21-16-11, 700 HP (+1/sec), 1000 time units

Vision 18

Loa Tactical Missile: 54 DPS, 135 per 2.5 seconds at range 4-60, splash radius 1

The Cybran standard Loa Tactical Missile (changed from 180 per 10/3 seconds) splits when hit by a hard-kill Tactical Missile Defence, in this particular case, the three sub-missiles that remain will each do 25 damage, unless shot down by further TMDs. Like the Flapjack it once again tracks the target.

The height of this unit is as the missile launcher is fixed in the hull, angled upward. When the missile is loaded, well, it kind of sticks out.

 **Aeon Evensong** : 400 tons, 54 m/s, LWH 25-15-9, 750 HP (+1.1/sec), 1000 time units

Vision 18

Serpentine Missile: 66.5 DPS, 665 per 10 seconds at range 3-60, splash radius 2

Of all the mobile missile launcher techs, the Serpentine Missile weaves around the most during flight and is the only one that has some trouble tracking its target very accurately. This does not occur for the same missile tech from other launchers, because they have enough space to have better stealth systems and thus not require so much manoeuvring to throw off enemy sensors.

The urge to flip off certain inbred UEF fundamentalist communities by cranking up the yield just a little bit more (already improved from 600 per 10 seconds) was headed off barely in time by Princess Rhianne's direct intervention. Apparently trolling fanatics is impolite when one is not at war with them, nor intends to be, in the near future. Who could ever have guessed?

 **Seraphim Ythisah** : 400 tons, 57 m/s, LWH 29-20-16, 800 HP (+1.2/sec), 1000 time units

Vision 18

Laanse Tactical Missile Launcher: 60 DPS, 360 per 6 seconds at range 4-60, splash radius 1.5

The Ythisah has been improved in firepower from 405 per 20/3 seconds. It is otherwise unremarkable.

* * *

 **Tier 2 Mobile Shield** : UEF Parashield, Aeon Asylum

The Parashield takes 15 seconds at a Tier 2 Land Factory, the Asylum 18 seconds.

 **UEF Parashield** : 240 tons, 80 m/s, LWH 18-18-11, 150 HP (+0.3/sec), 600 time units

Shield Radius 8 (-100 energy/sec, 4000 power, +55/sec, 24 sec reset), Vision 20

The Parashield is limited to moving around on land, but at least needs a harder air crash than an errant attack bomber to kill, unlike the Asylum… it still tries to dodge air crashes though.

Speaking of the air crash problem, efforts to make more resilient shield generators have been under way for quite some time, and as of 3850 can be found in the modifications section. The Parashield remains the standard roster choice due to cost-effectiveness issues.

Because it is cheaper than the Asylum, more can be fielded, and since shield generators are almost always priority targets, more overlapping shields with equal total strength is better against weapons without much splash radius, because the shot that finally pierces a bubble shield loses about twice the shield's remaining power in effectiveness. In other words, a Percival shooting three times (8 seconds) at a Parashield will find itself having to shoot one more time to kill it (actually, to blow it to dust, as upon impact the wreckage would be reduced to fragments not normally detected as worth reclaiming), as the Parashield's remaining 1240 shield points will eat that third shot completely before failing (though the Asylum gives a better example for this). Any explosive munition however would not do this, so it's really only particle, plasma, laser, etc. weaponry that does this.

 **Aeon Asylum** : 288 tons, 80 m/s hover, LWHC 20-20-9-5 (active) or 15-15-6.5-5 (inactive), 100 HP (+0.2/sec), 720 time units

Shield Radius 8 (-125 energy/sec, 5000 power, +65/sec, 26 sec reset), Vision 20

The Asylum will automatically try to dodge all air crashes, as anything heavier than an Interceptor would kill it on impact. When grouped with naval units it will default to protecting as many cruisers as possible (2 per Asylum at most) as they are fragile priority targets for enemy air units. The whole formation will manoeuvre at speed 4 (80m/s) instead of 4.5, which is cruiser speed. The top half of this icon is now a semicircle to show it is amphibious.

And yes, more resilient shield generators are available, but they are cost-ineffective compared to the Asylum unless it's literally raining wrecks such that dodging is too hard. Even in that case, it's most likely due to mobile flak, and they can shred wreckage with their shells to stop the rain… unless the problem is a gunship infestation.

Like the Parashield, the shot that finally caves in a Bubble Shield will lose twice the bubble's remaining charge if it continues through the other side. A Percival firing a fourth shot (12 seconds after the first one) at an Asylum would face a shield with 200 + 780 = 980 strength, which would eat the 1600-damage shot completely as it pops. The Percival would then have to take a fifth shot to vaporize the ting.

* * *

 **Tier 2 Mobile Stealth Generator**

The Deceiver takes 10 seconds at a Tier 2 Land Factory

 **Cybran Deceiver:** 160 tons, 58 m/s, LWH 14-11-9.5, 350 HP (+0.7 HP/sec), 400 time units

Stealth Radius 18, Vision 16

For those wondering why the Deceiver, built on a Rhino-derived hull, is so light and cheap, the hull is very much scaled down, the structural field is weak, the speed is slower than a Rhino, and the stealth field draws energy from the battle net. In other words, onboard reactor capacity is not very much, and the armour to support structural field projection is vastly reduced, more than the scaling suggests. Less of that means less mass in the suspension and the related passive stealth systems… and things cascade from there. Unlike the shield generators, the Deceiver's stealth generator remains active when grappled by an air transport, allowing stealth air drops.

* * *

 **Tier 2 Field Engineer**

 **UEF Sparky** : 450 tons, 60 m/s, LWH 17-12-10.5, 1040 HP (+2/sec), 1000 time units (25 sec at T2 Land Factory)

Engineering 10/sec, Radar Jammer (-15 energy/sec), Vision 20, Radar 30

Hell's Fury Riot Gun: 30 DPS, 15 per 0.5 seconds at range 18

As per the Seraphim War era, the Sparky only carries schematics for Tier 1 and 2 defensive structures despite having the full Tier 2 Engineer construction rate (10 per second) which can be used to repair each other (+10.4 HP regen per second, even while under fire and retaliating). It is sturdier than a Tier 2 engineer, but less so than a Tier 3, and has a Hell's Fury Riot Gun to help ward off Tier 1 units. However, its greatest value comes from the onboard radar jammer, and how fast it is compared to standard engineers.

* * *

 **Tier 2 Mobile Bomb**

The Fire Beetle takes 20 seconds at a Tier 2 Land Factory

 **Cybran Fire Beetle** : 600 tons, 100 m/s, LWH 13-15-6.5, 750 HP (+0.1/sec), 800 time units

Vision 24

Proton Bomb: 1500 damage suicide weapon, splash radius 5

Since the Seraphim War, the explosion modulation technology has been improved, so it was toned down from 3000 damage and 300 HP and affecting allies to 2000 damage and 750 HP, with 150 to allies. Chain reactions are still possible, but at least it's no longer Seraphim War era uselessness, where it only saw real use after being changed (from 1200 with full friendly splash and 750 HP) to a 3000-damage blast on a 300 HP hull, which worked well only in team battles with UEF or Aeon shield generators helping close the range, due to priority targeting issues.

Only baseline structural field regeneration is present, no specialized systems, hence the regeneration is minimal. Still, it is no longer nearly so easy to pick them off after identification quickly enough to prevent impact.

This hull forms the basis of the Tier 2 Cybran Skirmish Unit Pack, as detailed in the Modifications section, due to its speed. Unfortunately, those units tend to be rather… fragile, for their mass cost. A good few mobile missile launchers will counter them, hard.

* * *

 **A/N:** 300 HP and 3000 damage without affecting allies makes it ridiculously luck-dependent and thus anti-skill. The original Fire Beetle did 1200, affecting allies, and had 750 HP, which was underpowered and absurd (e.g. you can't mass them as there was no death explosion when a chain reaction broke out), but at least required lots of skill to use instead of relying on luck with enemy point defence picking the wrong targets, something that 3800s-era turret programming _would not do_.

* * *

 **Tier 2 Engineer** : All 320 tons, 38 m/s, time cost 800 (20 seconds at Tier 2 Factories)

All: Engineering 10/sec, Vision 20

UEF: LWH 14-14-9.5, 730 HP (+2/sec)

Cybran: LWH 15-13.5-9.5, 710 HP (+2/sec)

Aeon: LWHC (hover) 14-22-10.5-3.5, 620 HP (+2/sec)

Seraphim Iya: LWHC (hover) 21-16-11-7, 640 HP (+2/sec)

Draft is 3m for UEF and Cybran engineers in water, while Aeon and Seraphim hover. Aeon and Cybran still start assignments fastest, UEF next, and Seraphim slowest by a small margin.

* * *

 **Tier 3 Siege Assault Bots** : UEF Titan, Cybran Loyalist

Either one costs 40 seconds at a Tier 3 Land Factory, both form the basis for their factions' Tier 3 Fast Unit Packs.

 **UEF Titan** : 960 tons, 80m/s, LWH 28-25-21, 1500 HP (+2/sec) + 2000 shield, 2400 time units

Surface Shield (-20 energy/sec, 2000 power, +20/sec, 40 second reset), Vision 22

(Paired) Plasma Cannon: Total 150 DPS, 50 per 1/3 second at range 22

The Titan's personal shield stands, as typical of Surface Shields, about 2 meters off each surface, and has been changed from 2200/9/60 in strength/regeneration per second/rebuild time in seconds to 2000/20/40 with power demands dropping from 25 to 20/sec. It has also been improved in range from 20 back to 22, having been 25 during the Infinite War before the design as economized and power creep caught up to it. It has also been boosted to 1500 base HP (from 1200) in response to the Aeon Absolver, which helped improve its lackluster effectiveness compared to the longer-ranged and harder-hitting Loyalist (which is superior). Then again UEF armies were never as good at being fast as Cybran ones. The Titan nowadays mostly serves as a crowd-control escort to the excellent Percival and other similar units.

 **Cybran Loyalist** : 960 tons, 80 m/s, LWH 36-24-26.5, 3100 HP (+4/sec), 2400 time units

Vision 22

Disintegrator Pulse Laser (right arm): ~159 DPS, 3x175 (in 0.6 seconds) per 3.3 seconds at range 25

Electron Bolter (left arm): 30 DPS, 12 per 0.4 seconds at range 25.

Tactical Missile Redirector: 1 activation per 2 seconds, range 5

EMP: Triggered on death, 1 damage, stuns all enemy units for 3 seconds in radius 10.

The Loyalist remains able to redirect tactical missiles, and still has the death EMP, which stuns all enemy units, including Command Units and _Experimentals_ , within radius 10 for 3 seconds. Thus a Cybran commander's first response to Experimentals or a large army breaching his base is almost always to rally his Loyalists to rush in ahead of his own counter-attacking units. Enemy Experimentals which end up crushing or killing a Loyalist would be unable to move or attack for a moment, and ignoring a large pack of Loyalists is a Bad Idea even for a Galactic Colossus's HP pool… not to mention they wouldn't be able to walk anywhere without crushing one.

A Cybran ACU pilot without Loyalists late in a battle, unless he is fighting on an archipelago and has naval and air control, is almost certainly losing. It is the bread and butter of any Cybran rapid-reaction base defence squad… though admittedly against any invasion that's not a group of Titans more often than not the most precious defensive ability they have is the massive death "EMP" radius, so other than the kiting of Titans or slaughtering lower tiers, Loyalists tend to run straight into the fight to close the range and stun the enemy.

Neither the Titan nor Loyalist in standard version are amphibious, for a very simple reason: They would _float_ , and adding amphibious propulsion and passive stealth systems for water entry is very much not needed on the baseline forms. Modification, on the other hand, well… you get where this is going.

* * *

 **Tier 3 Heavy Assault Bot**

 **Aeon Harbinger Mk IV** : 1680 tons, 60 m/s, LWH 24-24-30, 2000 HP (+2/sec) + 3900 shield, 3600 time units (60 seconds at Tier 3 Land Factory)

Engineering 3/sec, Shield Radius 1.25 (-25 energy/sec, 3900 power, +26/sec, 39 sec reset), Vision 22

High Intensity Laser: 375 DPS, 300 per 0.8 seconds at range 28

The shield emitter is actually a bubble shield emitter, but it's so small we usually lump it in with Personal Shields. It is better at reducing high-alpha damage (a Harbinger can eat a 6000-damage Tactical Missile and only lose the shield, with the backlash of the shield popping protecting it) and recharging quickly, but, especially for a spindly machine like the Harbinger, shots that really should have missed cleanly can hit the bubble. The shield has been improved in recharge from 3900/9/60 to 3900/26/39. Yes, we realize this is a very improved version of the Mk 4, but if every improvement was named in everyday nicknames, the Loyalist would be somewhere in the hundreds of marks, so… NO.

Harbingers repairing each other grants 5/3 HP per second, but they cannot turn their engineering suites upon themselves as Experimentals can.

The Harbinger Mk 4 is still not amphibious (and is not normally fitted otherwise, as the Aeon have a Tier 3 Hover Army that can be used instead), so it's still just a Tier 3 direct-fire bot icon.

* * *

 **Tier 3 Siege Tank**

 **Seraphim Othuum** : 1680 tons, 50 m/s, LWH 43-29-12, 6700 HP (+7/sec), 3600 time units (60 seconds at Tier 3 Land Factory)

Vision 22, Water Vision 25

Thau Cannon: 150 DPS, 300 per 2 seconds at range 28

2x Rapid Fire Aire-au Bolter: Each 120 DPS, 40 per 1/3 second at range 25

Uall Cavitation Torpedo Launcher: 37.5 DPS, 75 per 2 seconds at range 32, fired from the Thau barrel.

The Othuum beats the Harbinger Mk IV very reliably in a head or tail-on straight slugfest due to improvements to the Thau Cannon boosting its DPS further, and its superior total durability pool. In other words, the Seraphim figured out that structural integrity fields did not behave anywhere close to linearly, contemplated the energy charging curve of the Thau, and soon doubled the rate of fire (it was 400 damage per 4 seconds during the Seraphim War). The result was promising in the range extension due to stealth improvement allowing retaliation against kiting Harbingers (though it's not very much).

This is especially important since improvements in stealth-piercing technology means modifications had to be made to the Aire-au Bolters, such as changing the mechanisms to a rapid-fire version of lower power per shot but which still are good. This rather ate up the mass freed up by the Thau's modifications and the merging of the torpedo tube mechanisms into the gun. While total direct-fire DPS has dropped from 400 to 390, the Othuum is now able to fight on a flank much better than before, with laughably superior torpedoes, and the range was deemed worthwhile.

However the Harbinger has better range than the bolters AND higher speed, so can still kite the Othuum (all units will use their range advantage whenever it exists, as part of their standard battle software), and still beats the Othuum in flanking battle as the Othuum cannot focus all its DPS on either broadside. This is part of why the Usha-Ah sniper bot is so useful. The Othuum however is amphibious, able to maintain Passive Stealth underwater, unlike the Harbinger which can't enter water without setting off sensors across the operational area. Thus the Othuum icon's bottom half has been changed to be a semicircle.

* * *

 **Tech 3 Armoured Assault Bot** : UEF Percival, Cybran Brick

Both take 80 seconds to build at a Tier 3 Land Factory. Gravity Mitigation Systems (e.g. some anti-gravity) prevent them from sinking into the ground under their own weight. Like the Siege Assault Bots, these hulls form the basis for Unit Packs of their respective factions.

 **UEF Percival** : 2560 tons, 40 m/s, LWH 36-25-32, 9300 HP (+8/sec), 4800 time units

Vision 26, Water Vision 26

Ionized Plasma Cannon: 400 DPS, 1600 per 4 seconds at range 35

The Percival is excellent as a defence against Monkeylords. However, Monkeylords can outrun them, which is a bit of a problem in other roles. They are good escorts for Fatboys though.

In land combat, the Percival is handily superior to the Brick, but the Percival cannot cross bodies of water safely without escort. As a bottom-crawling amphibious unit, the Percival's icon's lower half has been changed to a semicircle (so the top of the flattened hexagon used for bots is now left as a trapezoid).

 **Cybran Brick** : 2560 tons, 40 m/s, LWH 29-28-39 (height 35 if antennae folded for transport), 9000 HP (+8/sec), 4800 time units.

Vision 26, Water Vision 26

Sustained Disintegrator Pulse Laser: 375 DPS, 150 per 0.4 seconds at range 35

Nanite Torpedo Launcher: 25 DPS, 2x50 per 4 seconds at range 32

Anti-Torpedo Flare: 2 Anti-torpedoes per 15 seconds, range 15-32

The Brick is the ideal escort for the Megalith, as that Experimental is vulnerable to swarms of Tier 2 units, while the Brick is good at crowd control of weaker units and is amphibious like the Megalith. The Megalith has a very powerful torpedo armament, while a mass of Bricks can provide good torpedo defence.

The designers would like to remind you that the Brick's torpedoes are a lot better than video game balancers show them. They have 25 DPS, and the Brick has a reasonably effective anti-torpedo system. The Percival lacks either of these.

The Brick's icon has changed similarly to the Percival's, to show it's a bottom-crawling amphibious bot.

* * *

 **Tier 3 Sniper** : Aeon Sprite Striker, Seraphim Usha-Ah

Each requires 80 seconds to build at a Tier 3 Land Factory. These can fire as surface to orbital weapons if Coalition-level stealth is no concern.

 **Aeon Sprite Striker** : 1600 tons, 60 m/s, LWH 20-15-18.5, 550 HP (+0.5/sec), 4800 time units

Vision 26

Heavy Disruptor Cannon: 130 DPS, 1300 per 10 seconds at range 70

The Sprite Striker takes a couple seconds to lock itself in place before it can shoot. However, the shot is observed to travel at an estimated 2400 m/s in Earth atmosphere, and given how rigorous the weapon stealth demands are to have it not be traced back to the shooter easily nor APS-intercepted within the effective range (a Mech Marine could shoot across an operational area in anti-structure duty if not for the APS), a chunk of the mass invested into the Sprite Striker is immediately made obvious. It can ward off Usha-Ah strafing attempts easily and violently when deployed, but on the march it's up to the Serenity to ward off the raiders and Asylums to withstand them… at least for a while. If needed, leapfrogging Sprite Strikers is a thing.

The icon is now an artillery bot, which doesn't create confusion within the standard Aeon roster.

 **Seraphim Usha-Ah** : 1600 tons, 60 m/s hover, LWHC 32-6-19.5-3, 600 HP (+0.5/sec), 4800 time units

Vision 26

(Default) Sih Energy Rifle: 100 DPS, 700 per 7 seconds at range 65

(Toggle to) Sih Energy Sniper: 115 DPS, 2300 per 20 seconds at range 75

Making the unit amphibious was deemed worthwhile despite the boosted hover drive and reinforced structural field costing mass and reactor power that dropped the damage from the old 750 per 20/3 seconds and 2800 per 20 second. The relief to weapons stealth energy demands was quite large, to say the least.

After the post-Seraphim War structural field reinforcement (form 500 to 600) to survive strategic bomber crashes and the improvements to the hover system to make it fully effective for crossing water, a large enough mass of the very narrow Usha-Ahs can be used as basically all the components of a Tier 3 hover army except anti-air. They must however be backed by Athanahs (LOTS of Athanahs) and Iashavohs, or will die horribly.

The Usha-Ah has the range to cover a column of Othuums on the march from harassing longer-ranged units very well, even in standard mode. Toggling Sniper Mode on locks it in place (can only be done on land, as the bottom of the bot stabs into the ground atop a pedestal/foot thing that can be seen on the bot) and begins a charge sequence normally lasting 8 seconds. Turning more than 4 degrees per second (Tier 2 artillery installations turn at 6 degrees per second) toward an enemy slows the charging sequence down. So while it is good at covering against skirmishers and enemy snipers on the march in standard mode, it is really worthy of its new hovering artillery bot icon (the Suthanus has a non-amphibious artillery bot icon, so there is no confusion within the standard roster).

* * *

 **A/N:** I did the math for volume of the Usha-Ah, assuming it takes up a third of the volume of a block half its length but equal in height and width (in other words, approximating its body as a rectangular pyramid in that space), and got 768 cubic meters. That means 1600 tons would be about twice as dense as water. Even though I suspect the model volume is smaller, that makes 1600 tons perfectly reasonable.

I'm sorry for screwing up on Hinata Supreme *hangs head in shame*… although I fixed that. I'm also going to buff the Mobile Artillery pieces a bit to raise their DPS to around 95 instead of around 72, and improve Tier 2 installations too. Bear in mind that they aren't as accurate nor as sure to hit as the direct-fire Snipers or Point Defence guns, and the structures are vastly more expensive than PDs, hence additional nominal DPS and/or range as relevant.

* * *

 **Tier 3 Mobile Heavy Artillery:** UEF Demolisher, Cybran Trebuchet, Aeon Serenity, and Seraphim Suthanus

All take 80 seconds to build at a Tier 3 Land Factory, and if not concerned about stealth (by Coalition standards after 1200 years of lethal cat and mouse) can fire specialized shells into orbit.

 **UEF Demolisher** : 1600 tons, 50 m/s, LWH 33-19-12, 950 HP (+1/sec), 4800 time units

Vision 26

Antimatter Artillery: 95 DPS, 760 per 8 seconds at range 90, splash radius 4

The Demolisher is fairly average in its characteristics, including inaccuracy level (shell stealth needs). It must take a few seconds to deploy itself and its seismic dampening fields (and partial levitation) before firing, or it will immediately give away its location due to seismic shock. It has been improved since the Seraphim War from 750 per 10 seconds.

 **Cybran Trebuchet** : 1600 tons, 50 m/s, LWH 37-25-10.5, 850 HP (+1/sec), 4800 time units

Vision 26

Proton Artillery: 88 DPS, 440 per 5 seconds at range 90, splash radius 7

Instead of increasing shell yield much (didn't keep up with the times), the Cybran improvements to their mobile artillery are a matter of boosting the number of shells hurled at the enemy. This makes the Trebuchet the best by far in killing shield generators due to shield rebuild times. However, the Trebuchet is horribly inaccurate, though the immense splash radius helps.

 **Aeon Serenity** : 1600 tons, 50 m/s, LWH 41-29-9.5, 900 HP (+1/sec), 4800 time units

Vision 26

Sonance Artillery: 80 + 25 DPS, 1600 per 20 seconds at range 90, splash radius 3, and then 5 seconds damage over time for up to 500 more damage

The warhead has additional damage over time after impact due to the cloud of plasma unleashed. Sonance Artillery has a more controlled release of plasma than Miasma Artillery, which has both pros and cons. The graph of the damage over time is a triangle from 200 per second down to 0 over a timeframe of 5 seconds, with the damage being the area beneath the line, so the first second's actual total is 180, then 140, then 100, then 60, then 20.

The Serenity need not stop to fire, which allows it to conduct hit and run operations due to its long reload and high alpha. It is also pinpoint accurate… at least, compared to the others, because it can definitely splash the target if it stays on a constant course, while the others can miss by half a forward base or more.

 **Seraphim Suthanus** : 1600 tons, 50 m/s, LWH 36-27-16, 925 HP (+1/sec), 4800 time units

Vision 26

Suthanus Artillery: 90 DPS, 720 per 8 seconds at range 90, splash radius 6

The Suthanus is between the Demolisher and Trebuchet. It has an Artillery bot icon as it has legs. Otherwise, it's pretty unremarkable.

* * *

 **Tier 3 Mobile Missile Platform**

 **UEF Spearhead** : 800 tons, 56 m/s, LWH 38-22-19, 1700 HP (+2/sec), 2400 time units (40 seconds at Tier 3 Land Factory)

Vision 18

Cruise Missile: 125 DPS, 3x500 (1 sec salvo time) per 12 seconds at range 80, splash radius 1.5

This system is designed to overwhelm tactical missile defences, particularly when employed in numbers typical of ACU warfare (e.g. large). Of course, there were some issues such as enough reactor mass output to fabricate the ammunition, but those were overcome. However, this should never be used against targets covered by Loyalists, or the Tactical Missile Redirectors will very likely maim it with its own missiles returned to sender.

It is noticeably better and more cost-effective than the Flapjack, unless you are seeking to _actually_ overwhelm TMDs, in which case, a mob of Flapjacks would actually do better (except against Aeon Will-O-Wisp TMDs) in cost-effectiveness. The alternative is that the enemy defences would one-shot either one (e.g. artillery installations) in which case Flapjacks are once again better… but when Tier 3 Point Defences come on the scene, well…

* * *

 **Tier 3 Shield Disruptor**

 **Aeon Absolver** : 840 tons, 70 m/s hover, LWHC 32-24-7.5-5.5, 1200 HP (+1.5/sec), 3600 time units (60 seconds at Tier 3 Land Factory)

Vision 20

Shield Disruptor: 650 anti-shield DPS (2.5 otherwise), 1300 (or 5) per 2 seconds at range 60

The Absolver can use its low mass for a Tier 3 unit and existing hover drive to only occupy two clamps on a transport. It is EXTREMELY ineffective against structural fields, but excellent against shields. This hull is the basis of the Aeon Tier 3 Hover Unit Pack, as seen in the Modifications documentation.

The icon has its top half now semicircular, and the inscribed symbol is the dashed omega of a shield disruptor, as it is important to differentiate from direct-fire tanks… especially given the Unit Pack this gave rise to.

* * *

 **Tier 3 Mobile Shield Generator**

This takes 53 and 1/3 seconds at a Tier 3 Land Factory.

 **Seraphim Athanah** : 1280 tons, 80 m/s hover, LWHC 21-15-18.5-6.5, 400 HP (+0.4 HP/sec), 3200 time units

Shield Radius 10 (-300 energy/sec, 10000 power, +133/sec, 45 sec reset), Vision 20

By default, when manoeuvring a group of these with cruisers, they cover as many as possible with their shields and the group moves at 80 m/s instead of the 90 m/s cruisers can move at. The same applies for any naval formation including these, just like for the Asylum (and Bulwark too, but that boat doesn't have speed issues).

This is still vulnerable to strategic bomber crashes (500 damage) but is considered cost-effective compared to the reinforced shield generators, because dodging is a thing.

The top half of the icon is now semicircular to show it hovers.

* * *

 **Tier 3 Engineer** : All 980 tons, 38 m/s, 2100 time units (35 seconds at Tier 3 Factories)

All: Engineering 15/sec, Vision 26

UEF: LWH 21-17-13, 1500 HP (+3/sec)

Cybran: LWH 19-17.5-14.5, 1425 HP (+3/sec)

Aeon: LWHC (hover) 21-22-9.5-5, 1180 HP (+3/sec)

We are not counting a small antenna pointing down from the Aeon engineer's center in the height or clearance.

Seraphim Iyathuum: LWHC (hover) 23-19-14.5-6.5, 1230 HP (+3/sec)

Draft is 5m for UEF and Cybran engineers in water, while Aeon and Seraphim hover. Aeon and Cybran still start assignments fastest, UEF next, and Seraphim slowest by a small margin.

* * *

 **Catalogue Note:** Primitive civilizations we contact would probably collectively laugh at us if they knew the incredibly short ranges our war machines fought at. Such is the price of passive stealth, various active defence systems, etc. that control the intelligence data and thus the flow of modern battle. For less advanced militaries, perhaps broken stealth means really broken stealth and firing at will. For us, even when detected, weapons fire range is still limited due to the sheer amount of ECM floating around. Ammunition without its own ECM systems and evasive manoeuvres are too easy to intercept with very cheap point defence weapons tacked onto every single unit, and ECM-equipped rounds have to analyze their environment and thus are vulnerable to enemy ECM. High speed ammunition is easier to detect… you get the point.

We can have a **55000-ton walker stomping around at 50 meters a second be completely indistinguishable on sensors from a tiny hovering land scout** , while being good enough in sensors to sense **THROUGH the horizon a tree fall over from 80 kilometers away**. Stealth was practically the lifeblood of ACU warfare by the later phases of the Infinite War… though it wasn't the case back at the beginning.

* * *

 **A/N** : There, that's the land factory units. Experimentals and Command Units will be elsewhere because this really got too damned massive documenting the balance changes I made to the standard roster.

Hopefully the codex helps all other SupCom authors, I noted all my rebalancing except the MMLs.

 **Reviews welcome.**


	3. Standard Roster Air Factory Units

**A/N: UPDATED JUNE 1, 2017 due to height measurement method error**

In-game, all the transports, even those with obvious landing legs, hover tens of meters off the ground. The Mirage's landed posture also levitates over 10m above the ground. What the hell? Accuracy will be a little less accurate for the size of those that have to be brought down to sensibility, and the hull clearances will be wholly fabricated or noted down as for specific parts of the hull…

Attack Bombers nerfed to Forged Alliance Forever stats (no 2-second reload) to be sane compared to land units in DPS per mass, and strategic bombers nerfed with considerations as to balancing vs gunships. I did however buff the Corsair, and improved the Air Transports where I felt it necessary (e.g. Cybrans really get cheated in canon…), though they are also much more expensive now due to their firepower compared to gunships…

 _ **I don't believe in Gameplay and Story Segregation when I can instantly see a tiny wreck appear over from 80 kilometers away, but about 40,000 tons of six-legged walker (Monkeylord) has to get to 4km for even my best sensors (Omni) to detect it stomping toward me at 50m/s (180 km/h).**_

* * *

 **Codex Entry 2: Standard Roster Air Factory Units, 3850 Edition**

Now, we go on to the Air Units. Yes, they are SLOW in Earth-like relatively dense atmospheres, but making a system that can go more than Mach 1.6 and not leave any detectable wake of its passage (e.g. sonic boom) whatsoever is HARD. These get faster and faster as they move toward operating in space, but effective engagement envelopes are limited enough (even if it's not APS-vulnerable, like a laser, projected spatial distortions can cause misses) that gunships can only be so far above the ground, and air superiority units only so far above that without taking an inordinate amount of time getting down to engage. Why else do you think FLAK is an important part of AA defence? Everything (even Tier 3 Spy Planes!) flies within 600m of the ground to maintain standard passive stealth! Flying any higher invites intentional and viable use of artillery structures as immensely powerful flak weapons, something not normally possible (due to traverse) when flying so low.

All units' agility within a class are identical except where specifically stated otherwise. Due to the number of identical properties among air units compared to land units of a particular category, the format is different, as you can see.

Air unit dimensions are Length, Width, Height and Clearance (when parked on the ground) **in METERS**. Approximated to the nearest half-meter, usually.

* * *

 **Tier 1 Air Scout** : UEF Hummingbird, Cybran Flying Eyes, Aeon Mirage, Seraphim Sele-istle

All: Vision 42, 80 tons, 400 m/s, 8:20 fuel, Altitude 360m, 400 time units (20 seconds at a Tier 1 Air Factory)

Air Crash: 10 damage, splash radius 1

 **UEF Hummingbird** : LWHC 16-9.5-3-1.5, 35 HP (+0.1/sec)

Has a very traditional shape and good HP

 **Cybran Flying Eyes** : LWHC 14-16-4-1.5, 26 HP (+0.1/sec)

This is the hardest to shoot down in a head-to-head aerial pass, when supporting interceptors against other interceptors, due to its very small forward and rear cross-sectional area.

 **Aeon Mirage** : LWHC 11-17-2.5-1.5, 29 HP (+0.1/sec)

Nothing special, this flying wing type aircraft does however have a smaller target area from the side than the Hummingbird.

 **Seraphim Sele-istle** : LWHC 14-10-2.5-1.5, 32 HP (+0.1/sec)

The Sele-istle's death cam ability (Vision 30) only works if the wreckage is left intact (for up to 20 seconds) after the unit is destroyed. Needless to say, once this ability was identified by the humans during the Seraphim War, whenever feasible AA units or structures would target and destroy the wreckage while it was in the process of crashing, or any other units available would kill or even reclaim it after. It is the best Air Scout due to this ability and the shape being harder for Tier 1 AA to target. However, against Interceptors it is worse at surviving than the Flying Eyes.

* * *

 **Tier 1 Interceptor** : UEF Cyclone, Cybran Prowler, Aeon Conservator, and Seraphim Ia-atha

All: Vision 28, 100 tons, 300m/s, 5:00 fuel, Altitude 360m, 500 time units (25 seconds at a Tier 1 Air Factory)

Air Crash: 25 damage, splash radius 1

 **UEF Cyclone** : LWHC 21-19-3-2.5, 295 HP (+1/sec)

Linked Railgun: 50 DPS, 2x25 per 1 second at range 25

By far the highest alpha, but missing is fatal in a cookie-cutter match against the other Interceptors.

Yes, we do realize that the railguns should be able to fire separately, but they are programmed to fire in synchrony, so for all intents and purposes, it's almost a single shot, with relatively little separation between the shots, instead of being stated as separate.

 **Cybran Prowler** : LWHC 17-22-7-1.5, 280 HP (+1/sec)

2x Electron Autocannon: Each 24 DPS, 3x8 per second at range 25

Small head-on target area due to the multi-winged structure gives this an advantage during the first pass, and in juking enemies on its tail while others rush to its aid.

 **Aeon Conservator** : LWHC 22-13-1.5-1.5, 285 HP (+1/sec)

2x Sonic Pulse Battery: Each 24 DPS, 3x8 per second at range 25

The slim profile from any direction on the same flight level is good for the Conservator, though it is slightly easier to hit in a head-on run than a Prowler's dispersed cross-section would be.

 **Seraphim Ia-atha** : LWHC 29-20-3-1.5, 290 HP (+1/sec)

Shleo AA Autogun: 51 DPS, 3x17 per second at range 25

The Ia-atha has a good shape for evading ground AA, but not so much in air to air. Its vertical gunnery arcs are also smaller than even the Cyclone's chin-mounted gun allows, which can pose a problem.

* * *

 **Tier 1 Attack Bomber** : UEF Scorcher, Cybran Zeus, Aeon Shimmer, and Seraphim Sinnve

All: Vision 32, Radar 65, 200 tons, 200 m/s, 6:40 fuel, Altitude 360m, 500 time units (25 sec at Tier 1 Air Factory)

Air Crash: 100 damage, splash radius 1

Video games that claim bombers fly over their targets while bombing are lying, as even though the weapons stealth is limited the range is still significant. It takes over 8.5 seconds at freefall in Earth gravity to fall 360m, which means not counting air resistance and bomb bay downward ejection speed we would have over 1700m drop range… which is ridiculous for the bomb stealth systems available at Tier 1. Even with air resistance it's going to be over 1200 meters… NO. The bombers turn away right after dropping, and usually circle repeatedly (vertical, horizontal, or at angles) while lobbing bombs toward the target.

 **UEF Scorcher** : LWHC 25-26-5.5-1.5, 215 HP (+0.6/sec)

Incendiary Carpet Bomb: 75 DPS, 5x60 in a 4-grid (80-meter) line per 4 seconds at range 40 (800m), damage is dealt purely as 1.5 seconds damage over time in radius 2.5 per bomb.

As the Scorcher does purely damage over time, it is quite good that it has such a large (50m) splash radius, as well as doing its best to predict its targets' path. Even then, it is more useful in blocking enemy factories from commencing any construction, or killing whatever they are building, than it is at attacking armies in the field. The Scorcher was the UEF weapon of choice in exterminating remaining enemy civilians quickly and cheaply during the Infinite War after the main army has moved on. The distance from which it could boil flesh off exposed targets was far greater than the distance at which it can hurt a structural integrity field…

Please understand that structural integrity fields take time to recalibrate to higher temperatures. This is how ships can treat lava like water on maps based on historical locations, like The Scar, but units do not do so well with sudden changes lasting less than a couple seconds, like plasma weapons, or even firebombs.

 **Cybran Zeus** : LWHC 18.5-36-3-2.5, 200 HP (+0.6/sec)

Neutron Cluster Bomb: 75 DPS, 6x50 per 4 seconds at range 40, splash radius 3 (60m) each

The Zeus is generally considered better than the Scorcher due to doing its damage all at once, though it is not very accurate. However, the Zeus was so wide that during the Infinite War and Seraphim War, it was unavailable to the Command Class Aircraft Carrier due to exit tunnel dimensions. The Command Class had to rely in Corsairs for that purpose. Now, the Command Class has improved its handling of oversized aircraft, and can handle these again… though by the time carriers become available, Tier 1 aircraft are basically almost useless except as spammed DPS in levelling a base after the Tier 3s and Experimentals have wiped out the air defences… or as cheap decoys for SAMs.

 **Aeon Shimmer** : LWHC 11.5-46-2-1.5, 205 HP (+0.6/sec)

Graviton Bomb: 50 DPS, 200 per 4 seconds at range 40, splash 4 (80m), stuns Tier 1 or 2 targets for 1 second within radius 4.

The stun effect makes this perhaps the best Tier 1 bomber, and partly compensates for the lack of an Aeon Tier 2 Fighter-Bomber.

 **Seraphim Sinnve** : LWHC 18-47-3-1.5, 210 HP (+0.6/sec)

Othe Tactical Bomb: 62.5 DPS, 250 alpha per 4 seconds at range 40, splash 4.

Beyond that radius, the Sinnve's weapon cannot damage structural fields effectively due to blast propagation time allowing field structure reshuffling. This is only used as a means of dissipating relatively low yield blasts. It is a very different mechanism from synchronized field projection against higher yield munitions, where nearby units erect a containment field around the blast, at a certain radius, at ground level, in a way that rapidly causes the splash damage to fall off past that radius. The higher-yield version of the Othe Tactical Bomb found on the Ahwassa for example suffers from that. It should also never be confused with Pulse Overcharge, which results in damage versus energy yield being slightly logarithmic instead of linear or worse.

* * *

 **Tier 1 Light Air Transport** : UEF C-6 Courier, Cybran Skyhook, Aeon Chariot, and Seraphim Vish

All: Vision 32, 200 m/s, 13:20 fuel, Altitude 200m, 825 HP (+1.5/sec)

Air Crash: 100 damage, splash radius 1

Each Tier 1 unit takes 1 clamp, Tier 2 takes 2 clamps on the same rail (unless specified otherwise), and Tier 3 takes 4 clamps (2x2 or 4 in a row for Seraphim). Light Assault Bots are the only units that can fire from transports, and these "Ghetto Gunships" are practically THE reason LABs still exist.

All clearance numbers are for the main hull to the ground (The UEF and Cybran models have more obvious legs than the Aeon model's anti-gravity based "landing" gear). If they are left loaded or partly loaded, transports will rest themselves on their units, with some adjustment for structural balance as needed.

We point out that after unloading from any transport of any type, a unit's personal shields or bubble shields will be restored to their previous charge after 5 seconds of recalibration. This is the same as turning shields off and then back on. The energy drain is to maintain the shield while powering power passive regeneration or active reset. However, without external energy feed, the stored energy level remains steady, maintained by the unit's onboard reactors, when the shield is voluntarily inactive (as opposed to emitter shock and system reset due to drained reserves).

 **UEF C-6 Courier** : 240 tons, LWHC 84-25-12-5, 800 time units

Two rows of 3 clamps each are present on the spine. So it carries a Tier 3, or two Tier 2s, plus two Tier 1s, or just six Tier 1s. However, it is not capable of carrying more than 1400 mass (2800 tons), so while SCUs can fit with anti-gravity systems spun up to max, ACUs are still far too heavy. The best it can do for normal units is an Armoured Assault Bot and two Tier 1s.

A direct upgrade to the C-14 Star Lifter is now available, and can be conducted while the craft moves around, even if it is carrying something at the time. The upgrade is conducted at rate 10/sec, and as per typical for upgrading _units that move around_ , costs the Star Lifter's cost minus 90% of the Courier's cost, except time costs which are simple subtraction. This is fairly typical of most upgrades, except where specified directly.

As a side note, anyone who advertised otherwise for upgrading in video games has a lot to answer for in making half the new recruits initially think you have to pay full damned price for a HSD Pulse when upgrading from an SD Pulse. Even more egregiously, when upgrading the Cybran ED-series… Elite Commander Dostya would like a WORD. In other news, she would also like a word for the video game programmers who took liberties with history for Operation: Meltdown to use the sacrificial lion trope on her. Fortunately for their health, she's too busy to be bothered with dealing with them for now…

 **Cybran Skyhook** : 240 tons, LWHC 100-56-24-4, 800 time units

The same clamp arrangement as the Courier applies, and this can also now upgrade on its own to the Dragon Fly. Even the mass limitation is 1400 mass. The upgrade is, like the Courier, conducted at rate 10/sec, costing the Dragon Fly's standard cost minus 90% of the Skyhook's cost (except in time units, where it's just the difference). This is due to some inefficiencies with upgrading units in the field instead of just building them to be a certain way.

 **Aeon Chariot** : 240 tons, LWHC 30-30-6.5-1.5, 800 time units

This has three rows of two clamps each, spaced around the lobes of the mostly circular craft. Unfortunately for certain hopes, this can carry a Tier 3 plus two Tier 1s, not a Tier 3 and a Tier 2. However, it CAN carry three Tier 2s, and the Absolver vehicle family happens to fit that bill in clamp requirement…

The max carrying capacity used to be 1100 mass, which explained why it was a better AND cheaper transport than the UEF and Cybran options. This was enough to accommodate three Obsidians, but has since been changed with expectations of engineering an Aeon Armoured Assault Bot analogue and the Aeon Tier 3 Hover Army Unit Pack based on the Absolver. This has bumped the transport limit up to 1400 mass like the others. In other words, high enough the limit is irrelevant.

Despite being better than the other human Tier 1 transports in this sense, the Chariot is unable to upgrade right to the Aluminar for exceedingly obvious structural reasons. However, the Chariot DOES form the basis of an alternative transport family that is sometimes used by users of the aforementioned Unit Pack…

 **Seraphim Vish** : 360 tons, LWHC 150-70-24-8, 900 time units (45 seconds at Tier 1 Air Factory)

The extra carrying capacity that comes with 8 clamps in a row didn't come for free, though it seemed to during the Seraphim War for a simple reason. The Vish, unlike its human counterparts, has its current maximum load at 2600 mass due to having much of its antigravity drives in the actual strut that held up the units. This was chosen as a mass limit (upgraded from 1700 mass, which was why it didn't cost more than the human units) during the post-Seraphim War re-engineering (which drove the cost up from 240 tons) to accommodate the possibility of engineering a Seraphim Armoured Assault Bot analogue in the very near future (there is already a prototype). These is also the possibility of a comparable system to the infamous Land Destroyer Unit Pack (the basis for which should be obvious just from the name).

Like the UEF and Cybran transports, the Vish can be upgraded directly to the Vishala, the upgrade proceeding at a rate of 10/sec. The time cost though is the difference, as per other unit upgrades unless specified.

* * *

 **Tier 1 Light Gunship**

 **Cybran Jester** : 360 tons, 240 m/s, 5:00 fuel, Altitude 200m, LWHC 22-17-3.6-0.8, 525 HP (+2/sec), time cost 900 (45 seconds at Tier 1 Air Factory)

Vision 32

Air Crash: 100 damage, splash radius 1

Light Laser Autogun: 45 DPS, 15 per 1/3 second at surface range 16

The Cybran engineers that built the post-Seraphim War Jester models cut the time, mass and energy costs down by 10% from 400 tons (200 mass) and 5000 energy units. They accepted a DPS cut from 48 to 45, but made no change to the 525 HP and 5 minutes of fuel. We suspect this is specifically to make the other factions' efforts to create a Light Gunship to the same cost (emphasizing their factional traits though) harder, as the mass budget IS quite limited to get decent firepower on while being slightly more durable… as per typical factional differences.

The hubris has been nerfed by renaming the weapon from Heavy Laser Autogun to Light Laser Autogun, to reflect its actual DPS. The Heavy Laser Autogun is only found on the Auto Gun Tier 1 Point Defence, as far as the Standard Roster is concerned… which isn't saying much.

* * *

 **Tier 2 Fighter-Bomber** : UEF Janus, Cybran Corsair, and Seraphim Notha

All: Vision 32, Radar 65, 840 tons, 300 m/s, 8:20 fuel, Altitude 360m, 2400 time units (60 seconds at Tier 2 Air Factory)

Air Crash: 200 damage, splash radius 1

 **UEF Janus** : LWHC 38-20-4-1.5, 1200 HP (+3/sec)

2x Linked Railgun: Each 75 DPS, 75 per 1 second at range 30

Incendiary Carpet Bomb: 60 DPS, 8x75 (3.75 second DoT) per 10 seconds at range 0-60

Yes, this is more expensive in mass than Air Superiority Fighters (420 versus 400 mass) but the multi-role capacity and 60 anti-ground DPS (by contrast, a modern gunship gives 60 DPS for 240 mass cost and four Cyclones for 200 AA DPS cost 200 mass… and the Interceptors have less _total_ HP than one Janus) is valuable indeed. In fact, while with other units, you get what you pay for, with fighter-bombers you get MORE than you pay for.

 **Cybran Corsair** : LWHC 46-29-9.5-3, 1000 HP (+2/sec)

Nanite Missile System: 70 DPS, 4x35 per 2 seconds at range 30

Nanodart Launcher (Anti-Air): 60 DPS, 2x30 per 1 second at range 30

Nanodart Launcher (Ground Attack): 60 DPS, 8x75 per 10 seconds at range 45

The spindly, angular structure of the Corsair makes it rather difficult to hit with Tier 1 AA. However, as per Cybran doctrine this unit is dangerously offensive in its nature, and is not nearly so good at recovering from damage as the other two fighter-bombers. It has been adjusted since the Infinite War toward anti-air capability (from 54 total AA DPS—and yes, that change to the Nanite Missile System is power creep) instead of anti-ground (from 120 DPS) as while rocket attack runs are powerful and valuable, Tier 2 Cybran air-to-air capacity was somewhat lacklustre ever since Seraphim War improvements in AA projectile hit rates. However, due to tech creep, some of the HP has been lost (from 1100) since the Seraphim War.

The Nanodart Launcher is noticeably slower than the Nanite Missile System and can generally be shaken off for long enough to neutralize by any aircraft over speed 20, so ASFs and Spy Planes, unless launched at very close range or in head-on attack. While worse than the old anti-ground weapon system, it helps bring the Corsair on par with the other fighter-bombers in aerial combat, thanks to its hit rate and lack of need to orient toward the target. The most dangerous effect is its ability to fight in extremely close quarters where the others can barely manoeuvre for shots, while the Corsair can fire freely.

 **Seraphim Notha** : LWHC 24-21-3.5-1.5, 1175 HP (+3/sec)

2x Shleo AA Autogun: Each 75 DPS, 3x25 per 1 second at range 30

Othe Tactical Bomb: 117.5 DPS, 1175 per 10 seconds at range 40, splash radius 3 (60m)

The Notha is vastly better than the Janus at hitting smaller structures, and killing ground units in general due to not depending only on damage over time. It is considered better than the Janus as a result, though that is by no means saying the Janus is bad.

Whoever recorded the Notha's air crash as 25 damage in early documentation has a lot to answer for… because they really failed physics forever.

* * *

 **Tier 2 Torpedo Bomber** : UEF Stork, Cybran Cormorant, Aeon Skimmer, and Seraphim Uosioz

All: Vision 32, Sonar 90, 480 tons, 300m/s, 10:00 fuel, Altitude 360m, 1600 time units (40 seconds at Tier 2 Air Factory)

Air Crash: 150 damage, splash radius 1

The torpedo bombers sometimes have blind spots, if the AI believes the munitions cannot make a stealthy entry into the water given current air speed relative to torpedo ejection mechanisms, flight angles, underwater terrain, etc. The torpedo users will navigate to cancel out the blind spots whenever possible… or hurl their torpedoes as basically bombs (accuracy against moving targets can suffer).

Primitive civilizations should note that all our torpedoes rely on cavitation bubbles for their speed. Anything slower would be unable to catch up to even a battleship.

 **UEF Stork** : LWHC 20-30-4-1.5, 950 HP (+2/sec)

Angler Torpedo: 60 DPS, 2x375 per 12.5 seconds at range 0-42. Torpedo speed 5-11.5 (100m/s to 230m/s)

The Angler Torpedo technology is still effective, but a bit older and slower than its rivals. The typical launch speed matches the others at 100m/s or a bit over 194 knots, but top speed is only 230 m/s, or a hair over 447 knots. The result is that fleeing enemies can, with specialized anti-torpedo systems, sometimes fire their anti-torpedoes twice while the Anglers are still catching up.

Since the Seraphim War, the design has been made sturdier (950 from 860), as improving torpedo power was deemed secondary in favour of survivability, given the vulnerability of the Angler to anti-torpedo systems was a problem that couldn't be fixed without changing the fuselage design too much. The old double-fuselage shape was kept as the open hole in the middle of the silhouette tended to cause low-end AA systems to miss outright, a boon to durability the UEF did not want to give up. As for the possibility of increasing rate of fire at the expense of per-torpedo damage, that would increase exposure to enemy AA fire as they couldn't peel off after every attack run.

 **Cybran Cormorant** : LWHC 30-30-5.5-1.5, 800 HP (+1.5/sec)

Nanite Torpedo: 66 DPS, 3x275 per 12.5 seconds at range 0-42. Torpedo Speed 5-12.5 (100m/s to 250 m/s)

The Cormorant used to be the weakest torpedo bomber when they all had the same DPS, due to its frailty. In typical Cybran fashion, its offensive power has been improved, but it is still the lowest in HP and a big, fairly solid AA target. The one allowance made to survivability was to keep the old reload time to not force it to approach AA too often.

 **Aeon Skimmer** : LWHC 22-22-3-1.5, 820 HP (+1.5/sec)

Harmonic Depth Charge: 60 DPS, 2x375 per 12.5 seconds at range 0-42. Max air speed 14, naval speed 10

The Skimmer's two Harmonic Depth Charges are slung mostly if not wholly through the air. They cannot be intercepted by standard anti-torpedo systems, behaving more like a bomb unless it misses its target. This emphasized the Aeon trait of powerful specialists.

 **Seraphim Uosioz** : LWHC 20-16-2.5-1.5, 840 HP (+1.5/sec)

Uall Cavitation Torpedo: 62 DPS, 4x310 per 20 seconds at range 0-42. Torpedo Speed 5-12.5 (100m/s to 250 m/s)

The Uosioz is important into Tier 3 due to the Seraphim lack of a Standard Roster Tier 3 Heavy Gunship as per UEF and Cybran options, or a Heavy Torpedo Bomber like the Aeon Solace, though designs are in the works. Since the Seraphim War it changed from a faster-torpedo, slightly-lower-HP and more AA prone version of the Stork to what it is now. This is fairly typical of the Seraphim as a faction of compromises, and importantly allows partial bypass of most anti-torpedo systems along with running away between reloads.

* * *

 **Tier 2 Gunship** : UEF Stinger, Cybran Renegade, Aeon Spectre and Seraphim Vulthoo

All: Vision 32, 240m/s, 6:40 fuel, Altitude 200m

Air Crash: 100 damage, splash radius 1

Since the Seraphim War, the Tier 2 Gunships have mostly been cheapened to varying degrees from 600 tons and 2000 time units by improvements in technology. This has made them much less cost-ineffective compared to the excellent fighter-bombers.

Please note that gunships can engage other gunships and transports with their anti-ground weaponry.

 **UEF Stinger** : 570 tons, LWHC 30-21-13-0, 1100 HP (+2sec), 1900 time cost (47.5 seconds at Tier 2 Air Factory)

Hell's Fury Riot Gun: 60 DPS, 20 per 1/3 second at range 22,

The ground clearance is 0 because it lands right on the front thrusters.

Given how insanely powerful sticking a Sky Boxer (or better yet the modification) on the transport clamp (which is reinforced to be able to carry a Tier 2 unit of no more than 250 mass) to be dropped off the moment battle is expected is, it should be no surprise to anyone that the Stinger did not manage to reduce its cost as much as the others did.

However, in a pure gunship-on-gunship battle, the Stinger is cost-ineffective. Thus while the Stinger is still considered the best Tier 2 Gunship due to its transport clamp, it is not nearly as overwhelmingly better as it used to be. That being said, any unexpected run-in with an equally sized swarm of Renegades will still result in the Stingers being eaten alive, because the Iridium Rocket Pack has splash damage in a sphere in the air…

 **Cybran Renegade** : 540 tons, LWHC 33-22-5-1, 1040 HP (+2/sec), 1800 time cost

Iridium Rocket Pack: 60 DPS, 3x20 per 1 second at range 22, splash radius 3 (60 meters)

You may be astonished to know the Renegade was not cheapened as much as the Aeon or Seraphim gunships. This is due to the reactor mass output needed for the Iridium Rocket Packs. In massed gunship battles, the Renegades always slaughter their opponents. Either the splash damage forces their opponent to disperse to mitigate it, and thus engage with inferior concentration of firepower, or the splash kills them en masse. The Renegade has a major edge over the other gunships in slaughtering enemy armies too thanks to this splash damage.

 **Aeon Spectre** : 510 tons, LWHC 29-31-9.5-1.5, 1060 HP (+2/sec), 1700 time cost

Quad Light Laser: 65 DPS, 4x13 per 0.8 seconds at range 22

Against individual ground targets, this clearly beats out the other gunships in efficiency, as per the Aeon specialist archetype.

 **Seraphim Vulthoo** : 510 tons, LWHC 27-10-8-0.5, 1080 HP (+2/sec), 1700 time cost

2x Heavy Phasic Autogun: Each 30 DPS, 2x12 per 0.8 seconds at range 22

The Vulthoo is almost strictly worse than the Spectre, but at least it's not a vastly inferior Stinger anymore, as it can still (despite being significantly cheaper) beat a Stinger by face-hugging after dodging one shot, due to having burst fire instead of continuous for its DPS… This unit is important into Tier 3 due to lack of a Standard Roster Tier 3 Seraphim Gunship, and its shape means basic projectile AA hits a bit less often than with the others, which mostly makes up for its lesser firepower than the Spectre.

* * *

 **Tier 2 Air Transport** : UEF C-14 Star Lifter, Cybran Dragon Fly, Aeon Aluminar, Seraphim Vishala

All: Vision 32, 300 m/s, 13:20 fuel, Altitude 160m

Air Crash: 125 damage, 1 splash radius

The guns on the transports are nowhere near as impressively big as video games might depict. Admittedly earlier in the Infinite War they did have better DPS, but they were also much more expensive. They weren't nearly so well armed later on, even before the other factions began work on Tier 3 Air Transports in response to the Continental. Now, these things are just for cheap, low-risk transport missions while the far stronger Tier 3 transports take care of the real work closer to the front lines. They can transport an ACU, unlike the Tier 1 Light Air Transports. Given an ACU has a mass of 36000 tons (18000 mass to fully repair, in theory, from 0 HP), this almost completely depends on the anti-gravity systems of the Command Units, and slows the transport down. For regular units that lack such systems, the engineering of the transports allows for a certain mass to be carried safely and without potential loss of stealth. This mass limit is almost never relevant as far as standard roster is concerned, especially now that the Seraphim transports have been upgraded to potentially handle Armoured Assault Bots, but when fielding multiple prototype units… things can happen.

The rather high durability is insurance, and not needing to power much in the way of weapons is a great thing in terms of boosting the structural integrity fields…

 **UEF C-14 Star Lifter** : 840 tons, LWHC 143-34-10.5-5, 3350 HP (+5/sec), 2400 time units (60 seconds at Tier 2 Air Factory)

2x Tomcat Machinegun: Each 10.5 DPS, 7 per 2/3 second at range 22

2x Linked Railgun (AA): Each 24 DPS, 2x6 per 0.5 second at range at range 30

The clearance is for the hull, NOT counting belly guns and thruster pods, which almost touch the ground when resting on the landing legs.

The Star Lifter has two rails of 7 clamps each, which means 6 Tier 2s or three Tier 3s at most, plus two Tier 1s. The current Star Lifter does NOT have two absurdly weak versions of Hell's Fury Riot Guns (9 DPS each, PFFT…) as video games might claim, and its AA range has been upgraded to ward off Interceptors. The load limit considers the heaviest standard roster units with a bit of wiggle room put in, which means 4000 mass (8000 tons) in total.

Using it as a Ghetto Gunship can be a good idea, but LABs get SHREDDED by flak…

 **Cybran Dragon Fly** : 840 tons, LWHC 144-73-24-4, 3050 HP (+4.7/sec), 2400 time units

EMP Particle Cannon: 18 DPS, 9 per 0.5 second at range 20, stuns target for 2 seconds

Nanodart Launcher (AA): 32 DPS, 2x16 per 1 second at range 32

Nanodart Launcher (AG): 20 DPS, 2x10 per 1 second at range 20

The Dragon Fly has two rows of 5 clamps each. However, the Cybrans are early (the others only do this in Tier 3) in putting in a structural adaptation allowing for Tier 2s to be carried on clamps across neighbouring rails. This means the mass limit has to withstand two Armoured Assault Bots plus a Tier 2 Land Factory unit (e.g. obviously not a Salem derivative for the Tier 2), which, with some room to flex, meant they engineered for 3000 mass (6000 tons).

Since the Seraphim War, the Dragon Fly has changed to be more competitive with the others. It now has a new thruster assembly at the tail, which rotates to push forward when in flight and back to vertical to hover in place. The Nanodart Launcher replaces the old 36-DPS Electron Autocannon to improve AA range and flexibility, and has been relocated to be under the tail, just before the thruster pod, to be able to provide a modicum of support for a landing and extend the AA range from 20… though the EMP Particle Cannon is still by far the best weapon of the transports because a single Dragon Fly can permanently stun four defending units (though not buildings). Air to air, defensive structures, or shields over the flak units (which are most cost-effective than AA towers) are required when facing a Cybran thanks to this ability.

Whoever claimed in the past that the Dragon Fly used a Disintegrator Pulse Laser has clearly never seen a Loyalist shoot something…

 **Aeon Aluminar** : 840 tons, LWHC 130-95-44-0, 3150 HP (+4.8/sec), 2400 time units

4x Sonic Pulse Battery: Each 18 DPS, 3x6 per 1 second at range 30

The Aluminar has 12 transport clamps in 2 rails. The AA battery is effective against Interceptors and can chew enemy gunships to death with ease, but it is the only transport that in theory can get killed by a single Tier 1 AA unit chasing it around.

 **Seraphim Vishala** : 1120 tons, LWHC 147-72-36-9.5, 3250 HP (+4.9/sec), 3200 time units (80 seconds at Tier 2 Air Factory)

2x Shleo AA Autogun: Each 20 DPS, 2x5 per 0.5 seconds at range 30

Light Phasic Autogun: 12 DP, 4 per 1/3 second at range 22.

The LWHC is if the bottom spike on the rear left pod is counted in hull height… and ground clearance is from the main hull instead of that spike.

The Vishala has two racks of 8 clamps each, though it uses 4 clamps on one rack to secure a Tier 3. The current form can haul up to 5200 mass (10400 tons) due to expectations for a Seraphim Armoured Assault Bot design to match the others, and the AA weapon range has also been improved to not have interceptors trailing behind it taking pot-shots at range without being able to respond anymore.

For the record, whoever called the 6 DPS terrain-clearing popgun on it a Heavy (LOLWUT?) Phasic Autogun during the Seraphim War needs a brain upgrade, though it is the same technology. The weapon has since been improved slightly, and the Seraphim are STILL calling it exactly what it is: a Light Phasic Autogun (though a bit heavier/bigger than seen on the Selen to support better stealth systems for better range).

* * *

 **Tier 2 Combat Fighter**

 **Aeon Swift Wind** : 400 tons, 360 m/s, 8:20 fuel capacity, Altitude 400m, LWHC 30-32-7-1, 800 HP (+2/sec), 1600 time units (40 seconds at Tier 2 Air Factory)

Vision 32

Light Displacement Missile: 150 DPS, 3x50 per 1 second at range 30

Air Crash: 100 damage, splash radius 1

The Aeon Combat Fighter was built specifically to counter the Corsair threat, as its Light Displacement Missile can cost-effectively counter Corsairs. The Swift Wind can also counter everything else in the air cost-effectively except ASFs (as it is far more fragile and has three-eighths of an ASF's DPS for half the cost). Fortunately, the old blind spot in its missile range has been rectified.

* * *

 **Tier 2 Flying Bomb**

 **Aeon Mercy** : 400 tons, 300m/s, 1:50 fuel, Altitude 360m, LWHC 39-11-5.5-1.5, 10 HP (+0/sec), 1280 time cost

Vision 15

Mercy Cluster Warhead: 1600 at range 25, damage radius 3

Air Crash: 150 damage, splash radius 1

Renamed from "Guided Missile" in acknowledgement of the Fire Beetle. The Seraphim War era Mercy is now a much more matured technology that isn't pathetically bad compared to an actual tactical missile launcher (especially with recovery of a degree of target tracking for TMLs since the Seraphim War). It is capable of refuelling, and will continue to fly at half speed when out of fuel. Unlike other aircraft, it can fire its (suicide) weapon just fine when out of fuel.

The Mercy design has swung around several times since the Infinite War. It began as 600 tons (300 mass) and 2400 damage (and 2000 time cost), at 200m/s, then immediately after the Seraphim War dropped to 200 tons and 800 damage (still far more than any Attack Bomber of the same cost would be able to do during its lifespan against an even vaguely defended target) for 640 time cost, while gaining refuel capacity. Now it is 400 tons (200 mass) and 1280 time cost, for 1600 alpha. Many pilots are in favour of bringing a dedicated Tier 2 bomber design instead, but the Mercy's efficiency against targets that aren't covered by enough AA to shoot it down in time post-identification is undeniable. It is also quite effective at busting shields compared to equal masses of other bombers, as it need not come in visual range before firing, and AA weapons distracted by other units wouldn't be able to swivel around fast enough to hit it anyhow. The result is that against any Aeon pilot flak default settings will assign some guns to rake over all approaching enemy units at the perimeter of the flak engagement range, to ensure Mercies are purged before they can fire their weapons.

These are good for sniping enemy commanders and assets that aren't escorted properly, but that's about it, due to being too slow to dodge flak well despite improvement.

* * *

 **Tier 3 Spy Plane** : UEF SR-90 Blackbird, Cybran Spook, Aeon Seer, and Seraphim Iaselen

All: 390 tons, 600 m/s, altitude 500m, 900 time cost (15 seconds at a Tier 3 Air Factory)

Air Crash: 100 damage, splash radius 1

All Spy Planes fly too fast and are too nimble to be effectively targeted by flak, but surface to air missiles will slaughter them easily.

 **UEF SR-90 Blackbird** : 25:00 fuel, LWHC 42-28-7-1.5, 1150 HP (+2/sec)

Vision 64, Radar 96, Omni 30

This has the best HP, but is otherwise unremarkable.

 **Cybran Spook** : 16:40 fuel, LWHC 23-49-6.5-1, 700 HP (+1/sec)

Personal Stealth (no cost), Vision 64, Radar 96, Sonar 98, Omni 30

The stealth capability is widely considered to make this the best Spy Plane. On the other hand, it is so wide it used to fly sideways out of Carriers, which is no longer necessary.

 **Aeon Seer** : 25:00 fuel, LWHC 32-16-2-1.5, 1050 HP (+2/sec)

Vision 64, Water Vision 30, Radar 96, Omni 30

The Water Vision was added after the Seraphim War, from studying the workings of the Quantum Optics Facility, known as the Eye of Rhianne. This makes it no longer the worst Spy Plane, as it can at least identify the naval contacts it picks up.

 **Seraphim Iaselen** : 25:00 fuel, LWHC 32-25-6.5-1.5, 1100 HP (+2/sec)

Vision 64, Radar 96, Sonar 98, Omni 30

Particularly useful due to the lack of a Seraphim Tier 3 Sonar Installation.

* * *

 **Tier 3 Air Superiority Fighter** : UEF Wasp, Cybran Gemini, Aeon Corona, Seraphim Iazyne

All: 800 tons, 500 m/s, Altitude 400m, 16:40 fuel, 3000 time cost (50 second at a Tier 3 Air Factory)

Air Crash: 200 damage, splash radius 1

Like all other modern Coalition air units, ASFs are capable of operating in space, so in space combat lingo are called Aerospace Superiority Fighters. However, unlike the others they are one of the few combat units that can feasibly climb to orbit fast enough to make a difference in an ACU battle. Still, the engagement envelopes involved have a limited altitude gap too, not just in horizontal range, and given inertial manipulation, height is not as much of an advantage as one might think. For example, purely ballistic-trajectory weapons, such as flying artillery shells that do not have enough projectile stealth left, are easy to intercept if they fire outside their maximum range (i.e. the shell can be identified and comparatively very cheap and lightweight active defence systems can shoot it down or deflect it).

In space, the speed limit is far higher than in low atmosphere, because there's far fewer particles that have to be rearranged to conceal the passage of the Coalition aircraft, even when the combat engines aren't running. That by the way is why the human factions' aircraft show even the slight contrails of their thruster technology only when they speed up to full battle speed. These contrails are, with rather long delay, detectable by long-range sensors (the basics that can survey the landscape of the surrounding continent moments after arrival, not "Radar" or other specific ones), and thus reveal the presence of aircraft to even enemies who don't have radar in an area, though the information is usually very useless due to the sheer amount of time it takes to show up (often upward of a minute) being much more than the time it takes for the first ground-side wreckage to begin piling up.

All ASFs are too fast and nimble to be hit very often by flak, unless tangled up in a brawl.

 **UEF Wasp** : LWHC 32-35-4.5-2, 2600 HP (+6/sec)

Vision 32

2x Ginsu Pulse Beam: Each 200 DPS, 200 per 1 second at range 30

The toughest ASF, with better regeneration than the others and able to inflict alpha damage a bit sooner due to being in one pulse per weapon per firing instead of a burst (of equally 2400m/s weapons, any faster and it would be noticeable to sensors in dense atmosphere too fast and thus have lower effective range) or slow (1300m/s in dense atmosphere) missiles, but otherwise unremarkable.

 **Cybran Gemini** : LWHC 34-27-7-1.5, 2450 HP (+4/sec)

Personal Stealth (-25 energy/sec), Vision 32

2x Nanite Missile System: Each 200 DPS, 2x100 per 1 second at range 30

The best ASF, due to the ability to fire missiles at the enemy regardless of approach angle, and the active stealth system preventing radar targeting unless it's Omni. An unmoving opponent or one moving in the same direction can take three or more volleys of missiles per attack run, and that's a big deal compared to everyone else's two salvos of weapon fire on an attack run against a stationary target. The fact that it can attack just fine without any sensor support, due to the omni-directional weapons not requiring an attack run for max efficiency, pushes it into "hideously overpowered" territory on paper, more so than even the Restorer.

Reality is somewhat different, as everyone else is able to spin in place and fly backwards or sideways at a reduced speed, and due to engagement ranges that still means they can engage the Gemini on fair terms when flying defensively. On the other hand, when the enemy is on the offensive and Geminis manage to close the range relatively undetected, forcing the enemy to waste DPS while turning to engage as the Geminis swoop past, the Gemini handily squashes them in equal numbers.

Video games sometimes forget the complex battle AI that makes the Gemini less than brokenly OP. That would have made for another exhausting arms race as has happened n times in the Infinite War if it was true…

 **Aeon Corona** : LWHC 34-33-3-1.5, 2500 HP (+5/sec)

Vision 32

Displacement Cannon: 405 DPS, 3x135 per 1 second at range 30

The Corona has better weapon traverse angles than its competitors, having its weapon turreted instead of pretty much in casemate(s) as the Wasp or Iazyne do, as well as delivering alpha (e.g. actually hitting the enemy) sooner than the Gemini (though it lacks the Gemini's tracking ability). However, the advantage is not decisive, so it is equivalent to the Iazyne.

 **Seraphim Iazyne** : LWHC 33-27-5-1.5, 2550 HP (+5/sec)

Vision 32

Losaare AA Autocannon: 405 DPS, 3x135 per 1 second at range 30

Please note that the Losaare is often seen shortened in name, with the "AA" part cut out, since it is only intended for use against air units, and the technology is, to be polite, less than effective against ground-contacting structural fields.

* * *

 **Tier 3 Strategic Bomber** : UEF Ambassador, Cybran Revenant, Aeon Shocker, and Seraphim Sinntha

All: 4200 tons, 360m/s, Altitude 400m, 8400 time cost (140 seconds at a Tier 3 Air Factory)

Air Crash: 500 damage, splash radius 1

Everyone competent at math knows that under about 1 Earth gravity, discounting air resistance the bomb should be able to fly 3.2 kilometers horizontally before hitting if released over flat ground. However, due to weapons stealth limitations, dropping at a distance of 90 is the furthest doable, and the closest doable is about 20 when flying at full speed, complete with a dive. However, like all other Coalition aircraft these are VTOL and thus can hover to go down to 0 range… or do acrobatics if maintaining some airspeed is required. Hovering is extremely ill-advised due to frailty compared to T3 gunships, which are much cheaper.

Due to the need to stay relatively close to their bombs to be able to maintain weapon stealth and prevent active defences from potentially shooting the bombs down if the bombs fly for too long, they are forced to fly relatively close to their targets (40 grids) before peeling off (generally by going up into a vertical half loop to reduce flak vulnerability interval). This makes them vulnerable to comparatively cheap surface to air missile installations and even Flak to a degree. Video games that depict strategic bombers as having 5-second reloads, on the other hand, are lying their collective asses off. Given literally everything in the Coalition arsenal is VTOL there would be no need for the considerably cheaper heavy gunships, which would have way less DPS if that was the case.

Please note that peeling off from the attack earlier tends to reduce the chance of successful attack down from 100%, though hacked airbursts still DO deal damage to enemy shields within the blast radius. As for why the blast radius is so small for these weapons, structural field projection systems can automatically recalibrate and deflect the blast wave upwards, away from the ground, given a little bit of time, which varies depending on blast type.

 **UEF Ambassador** : 25:00 fuel, LWHC 38-42-5-1.5, 4000 HP (+5/sec)

Vision 32, Radar 65

Small Yield Nuclear Bomb: 300 DPS, 3000 per 10 seconds at range 90, splash radius 6

2x Railgun (AA): Each 24 DPS, 16 damage per 2/3 second at range 44

These railguns are not linked (e.g. twin). They are each a single weapon, facing rearward on each wing, and have arcs of fire and DPS adequate to ward off Interceptors more than well enough before the bomber outruns them.

If the 6000 alpha of the Heavy Oblivion Cannon can be considered 40 kilotons TNTe directed straight into the target (so overall yield around 90 kT at least…) then 3000 alpha toward anything in 120 meters is probably a near-ground airburst of at least 50 kT, with its effects spread over an area. That number fits the Small Yield label well enough. Structural field projection systems make the splash damage rather small before it is contained enough to be redirected upwards. The outer splash is negligible against structural integrity fields (then again a 200mm plastic explosive block detonating against a field is only 2 rating points), but to structures without said fields, the overpressure demolition radius is considerably greater.

 **Cybran Revenant** : 16:40 fuel, LWHC 36-48-9-1.5, 3700 HP (+4.5/sec)

Personal Stealth (-60 energy/sec), Vision 32, Radar 65

Neutron Bomb: 275 DPS, 2750 per 10 seconds at range 90, splash radius 7

Electron Flak: 30 DPS, 30 per 1 second at range 44, splash radius 2

The AA armament has been improved since the Seraphim War to murder packs of Interceptors better. However, the Revenant still depends mostly on Cybran stealth doctrine to strike and then flee. Omni or picket-duty scouts are required for SAMs to effectively take it out despite the facts of a bomb run (e.g. the need to peel off only after reaching 40 grids lateral distance from target if a run is to be a sure thing).

 **Aeon Shocker** : 25:00 fuel, LWHC 40-62-7-1.5, 3800 HP (+5/sec)

Vision 32, Radar 65

Quark Bomb: 345 DPS, 3450 per 10 seconds at range 90, splash radius 4

This is a typical Aeon design in that it is good at doing what it was designed for… and that's it. It used to have anti-missile flares back in the Infinite War, but those have become ineffective and have been removed.

 **Seraphim Sinntha** : 25:00 fuel, LWHC 21-70-5-2.5, 3900 HP (+5/sec)

Vision 32, Radar 65

Zhanasee Strategic Bomb: 325 DPS, 3250 per 10 seconds at range 90, splash radius 5

The Zhanasee Strategic Bomb is capable of focusing its energy better against a single target than the Othe Tactical Bomb, but the Othe blast is harder to contain and easier to scale up, hence the use of the Othe on the Ahwassa.

* * *

Tier 3 Heavy Gunship: UEF Broadsword, Cybran Wailer

All: 3360 tons, 160m/s, Altitude 200m, Fuel 13:20, 8400 time cost (140 seconds at a Tier 3 Air Factory)

Air Crash: 400 damage, splash radius 1

 **UEF Broadsword** : LWHC 39-35-14.5-0, 6050 HP (+10/sec)

Vision 32

Heavy Plasma Cannon: 300 DPS, 100 per 1/3 second at range 25

Linked Railgun (AA): 16 DPS, 2x8 per 1 second at range 44

Like the Stinger, this lands right on its front thruster pods. While the secondary AA gun has been improved since the Seraphim War, and it looks generally ridiculously OP compared to the Stinger (5.6x the original Stinger's mass for 5.4x the HP AND 5x the DPS), it really wasn't ever so good. The lack of a transport clamp cuts back a lot in flexibility and the amount of DPS it could represent, which is a BIG DEAL. However, since the Seraphim War the durability has been improved slightly, which allows it to in theory survive five SAM volleys.

 **Cybran Wailer** : LWHC 37-29-7-1.5, 5700 HP (+9/sec)

Radar Jammer (-25 energy/sec), Vision 32

Disintegrator Pulse Laser: 300 DPS, 150 per 0.5 second at range 25

Nanodart Launcher: 24 DPS, 12 per 0.5 second at range 38

Like the Broadsword this looks gloriously OP per mass cost on paper compared to the Renegade, but it has a very important deficiency: NO SPLASH DAMAGE.

On the other hand, the radar jammer can be used to draw SAM fire basically indefinitely if the enemy doesn't have a nearby Omni sensor.

* * *

 **Tier 3 Heavy Torpedo Bomber**

Air Crash: 400 damage, splash radius 1

 **Aeon Solace** : 3300 tons, 400m/s, Altitude 360m, LWHC 39-53-5-2.5, 3750 HP (+5/sec), 6600 time cost (110 seconds at a Tier 3 Air Factory)

Vision 32, Sonar 90

Heavy Chrono Torpedo Cluster: 250 DPS, 8x500 per 16 seconds at range 42. Torpedo max speed 12.5 in water.

Since the Seraphim War, more and more ships have upgrade options for flak weaponry (and cruisers have had developed for them certain upgrades for anti-torpedo systems, which many pilots have codified as standard setup in their personal unit rosters). This is due to the fact that the Solace's torpedo battery can on paper one-shot any faction's cruiser, the main anti-air ships of the fleet. The AI targets cruisers first, then automatically peels off the moment it drops, so cruisers had better hope they have anti-torpedo-equipped buddies nearby… and the fleet should have non-cruiser ships fitted with flak upgrades, or heavy air-to-air escort forces.

This isn't as cost-effective as the lower-Skimmer against non-Seraphim cruisers, but has better reusability and is better in the long run unless there are too many anti-torpedoes around, in which case the Skimmer's Harmonic Depth Charges are laughably better.

* * *

 **Tier 3 AA Gunship**

Air Crash: 350 damage, splash radius 1

 **Aeon Restorer** : 3000 tons, 200 m/s, Altitude 200m, Fuel 13:20, LWHC 45-38-17-2.4, 7200 HP (+10/sec), 6000 time units (100 seconds at a Tier 3 Air Factory)

Vision 35, Radar 65

Quad Laser: 160 DPS, 4x32 per 0.8 seconds at range 25

2x Zealot AA Missile: Each 65 DPS, 2x65 per 2 seconds at range 60

Due to various factors regarding anti-structural-field tech, the Restorer's cost has risen from 1200 mass (2400 tons, and 4800 time) in the name of maintaining its power. However, it still remains cost-effective compared to the other two Standard Roster Tier 3 Gunships.

Operating in company with Spy Planes is STRONGLY recommended, despite then-Senior Templar Xavier Fran doing everything he could to make the Restorer self-sufficient as a combat platform. There wasn't the option of cramming in adequate sensors to deal with Cybran Geminis without losing too much in durability, even for someone as experienced in unit design as he. The best he could compromise during the post-Seraphim War price increase due to changes in structural field tech was to add radar consistent with bombers. Visual was impossible to expand past 35 in economical fashion, and adding Omni was straight out. So while the Restorer is still reasonably close to cost-effective against air superiority fighters, Geminis still club them cost-effectively, despite changing the system to ensure getting 2 volleys totalling 8 missiles instead of 6 during the engagement timeframe against Gemini strafing runs where they can actually see the Cybran ASFs.

The laser has been renamed due to its damage output compared to actual quad "light" lasers.

* * *

 **Tier 3 Heavy Air Transport**

Air Crash: 700 damage, splash radius 1

 **UEF Continental** : 6000 tons, 300m/s, Altitude 200m, Fuel 13:20, LWHC 155-95-19-3 (clearance under rear hull portion, the front rests on the ground when not burdened), 4500 HP (+8/sec)

Shield Radius 5 (strength 4000, +32/sec, 32 second reset, -250 energy/sec), Vision 32

2x Plasma Cannon: Each 75 DPS, 50 per 2/3 second at range 25

4x Flayer Missile Launcher (AA): Each 60 DPS, 6x20 per 2 seconds at range 50

The Continental comes with 4 rows of 7 clamps each, mounted on two struts. Due to having the clamp arrangement adaptation that allows carrying a Tier 2 on two clamps across a strut, it can thus haul up to 6 Tier 3s and 2 Tier 2s into battle (mass limit is 9000 mass for non-command non-hover units)

Early rumours claiming the big transport to only cost 2000 mass (4000 tons) was incorrect, because that would make the Star Lifter utterly redundant. Just looking at the continental tells you how absurd such a claim is (though it did use to be cheaper than it is now). The shield size has been improved (so that the back corners of the hull no longer stick out), though recharge is still relatively poor compared to groundside shields (improved from 3000/30/35 at radius 4.25 or 85m) and energy consumption is still high for the shield strength due to projecting from within a relatively strong structural field (it could be much stronger without shield interference). The weaponry has also been improved slightly.

The Continental is great for a Ghetto Gunship, but please beware of flak, which will pretty much instantly slag LABs once the shield goes down, and beware SAMs too, as they are good at focusing down individual, tough targets like the Continental, and LABs cannot survive the crash damage…

* * *

 **A/N** : That's it for my versions (often modified) of the Standard Air Factory Units. For stuff like the Vishuum/Vishthuum (both spellings are valid), Light Bringer, Dragoon (the other three Tier 3 transport designs), Vult, etc. please stay tuned. They will show up eventually.


	4. Standard Roster Naval Factory Units

**A/N: UPDATED JUNE 1, 2017 TO REFLECT HEIGHT MEASURING ERRORS.**

Some units haven't been updated in height due to displacement issues (e.g. Yathsou, missile subs)

You might find the ranges to be obscenely short, but given in Supreme Commander **you can see a tiny piece of wreckage the instant it appears from 80km away with a mountain (and the horizon) in between, but you can't tell a walker weighing tens of thousands of tons is stomping toward you at 180 kilometers per hour (50 meters per second) until it gets within 4 km of an Omni sensor** … I ASSUME the stealth technology and demands of the 3800s are abjectly insane by 21st century standards.

 **I changed up the Carriers to be less ridiculously light for their displacement. They are the only ones where I won't give the in-game stats, as those would have to be foam ships with lots of ballast tanks… then again that's how most of the ships' displacements match up to their masses, except the missile subs. Attack Subs made cheaper to not be quite so ineffective.**

* * *

 **Codex Entry 3: Standard Roster Naval Factory Units, 3850 Edition**

The Naval Factory Units list is, fortunately, not all that long.

All naval units' reverse max speed is 80% of their forward max speed. Surfaced vs submerged speeds are _exactly the same_. Therefore, the only reason for a submarine to surface is if it has weapons that can't be fired underwater, or to cross particularly shallow water that it cannot remain submerged in. Given that "sonar" senses the water molecules or lack thereof with equal efficacy for surfaced and submerged submarines, passive stealth technology is enough that being barely under water is equal in sensor signatures to being near the bottom on an oceanic world.

 **Readers should be advised that while hard-kill systems such as anti-torpedoes and tactical missile defence can only intercept 1 per anti-torpedo or TMD, flares can pull away multiple at once, and in the case of the Will-O-Wisp can pull away essentially ALL tactical missiles within the appropriate range band at the moment the flare deploys.**

Structural integrity fields were one of the greatest inventions of mankind. Without structural fields, it would have been very much impossible for strategic missile warheads from a submarine to do about 25000 damage throughout the inner splash radius of 30 "grids" (20 meters on a side) tapering off to 500 damage by 40 grids and 0 by 50 grids, while a silo would do approximately 70000 damage in the middle of the inner radius of 50 grids, tapering down steadily, at the border it started dropping steeply, down to 500 by 60 and 0 by 70. That was because the earliest a containment field—a technology derived from structural fields—could be erected to bounce the blast back toward ground zero—with most of the energy venting upward—was at a particular blast energy density. The process resulted in the damage dealt within the blast radius being twofold, tapering off to a common level near the border of the inner blast before being bounced back and _decreasing_ as it converged, due to much of it venting upward or going upward by ground-effect. This generally adds up to a more or less constant amount of damage for anything that doesn't move within the blast radius. Incidentally, structural integrity field technology also meant Coalition spacecraft could dive quite deep into gas giants without sustaining any damage whatsoever, not that they normally would, thanks to widespread hover technology…

We should also point out that distant field projection to deflect and thus reduce splash radius against strategic weaponry isn't the only mechanism that works to that effect. If there's no soft targets to protect, structural fields can be recalibrated to not take much damage from a particular blast once enough telemetry is collected (this takes time to set up the calibration and deflection). This is another part of why splash is irrelevant beyond the stated radius for a given munition. For the record, splash damage on the water's surface does in fact reach underwater to a significant extent due to the higher speed of pressure wave (e.g. sound) transmission in water. However, splash damage under the water… does propagate more or less spherically.

* * *

 **AUTHOR DISCLAIMER:**

Length, Width, Height and Draft are calculated by using UEF Tier 1 Wall Block: Calcicrete (1 grid is 20m long, the wall is 8m high, corrected from 10m in earlier versions) and the construction-planning-outline of the Tier 1 torpedo launcher to estimate. Numbers may be off by up to about 10% for height and draft (cases where scale was stated to have changed, such as strategic missile subs and Yathsous, aside). Sorry, I don't know how to extract the game model data so I just did my best. Draft especially can be a bit off…

And the UEF torpedoes being the slowest is purely according to lore. In-game testing reveals no difference whatsoever. Eh, I'll incorporate it here…

Some rebalancing happened, for example with how the Attack Subs got nerfed from Vanilla's 600-some damage per salvo to 150 per salvo, AND had their health halved, without a commensurate cost cut.

* * *

 **Tier 1 Attack Submarine** : UEF Tigershark, Cybran Silver, Aeon Sylph and Seraphim Sou-istle

All: Vision 32, Water Vision 32, Sonar 60, 120m/s

The Attack Submarines have been slashed in cost from 800 tons through intensive optimization programs, to make them less grossly cost-ineffective compared to the Tier 2 Sub Hunters, which admittedly can still kite them with equal or greater speed and better range. However, Attack Subs can kite Frigates on the surface (with deck gun DPS plus torpedo DPS) with equal speed and more range! So they are the Tier 1 naval superiority unit of choice. They are horribly weak against bombers (or torpedo bombers) though…

Torpedoes can pursue their target beyond their firing range (range for positive target lock), with a lifetime of (for the basic torpedoes) about 7-8 seconds before the security software is overwhelmed or enemy passive defences defeat it (not including active measures such as flares or anti-torpedoes), etc. Accelerating to top speed occurs within something around 3 seconds of leaving the barrel (So an acceleration of about 50 meters per second squared), so the actual pursuit range possible is generally about 1.6 kilometers (so the neighbourhood of 80 grids) before the torpedo fails. The lifetime is longer for installation-launched torpedoes or advanced variants, which will be specifically denoted for their extended lifespan. As you can probably figure out, Coalition naval warfare is horrible for the ecology of the area, as it tends to take grenade fishing up to the nth degree.

Each of these submarines will achieve mutually assured destruction against any of the others using torpedo weaponry, except the Silver beating the Sou-istle if it face-hugs the enemy sub. Sou-istles are programmed to run away after the first volley is fired, to try to make room for the Ajellu to reload, while all the others are coded to press the attack (depending on circumstances) if the enemy tries to retreat, so it cancels out, more or less.

 **UEF Tigershark** : LWHD 38-9-6.5-3 (to the top of the antennae), 600 tons, 600 HP (+1/sec), 1200 time units (60 seconds at a Tier 1 Naval Factory)

Angler Torpedo: 36 DPS, 2x72 (in 0.5 seconds) per 4 seconds at range 32, speed 5-11.5 (100-230m/s)

Light Plasma Cannon (when surfaced): 25 DPS, 25 per 1 second at range 32

The Angler torpedo is a bit old-fashioned, so it's slower than the others at only a hair over 447 knots top speed, but is still effective enough. Unfortunately, DPS declined from 37.5, but the Tigershark still has the best total DPS.

Compared to the Seraphim War era version, due to reverse speeds when submerged being reduced by improving counter-passive-stealth tech, the deck gun has been moved to aft of the conning tower. It's not like it can't run down any hovering amphibious unit even on a not-quite-stern-chase anyhow…

 **Cybran Silver** : LWHD 44-10-3.5-3.5, 600 tons, 525 HP (+1/sec), 1200 time units

Nanite Torpedo: 40 DPS, 3x40 (in 1 second) per 3 seconds at range 32, speed 5-12.5 (100-250m/s)

Light Pulse Laser: 20 DPS, 10 per 0.5 second at range 32

The Sliver was misspelled and mislabelled for so long by so many commanders that after the Seraphim War renaming the design family as the Silver was a mere formality…

The torpedo system is now firing weaker torpedoes more often, resulting in slightly higher DPS than previously available. This helps masses of Tier 1 subs be more cost-effective versus Tier 2 Sub Hunters… though given the latter can kite the Tier 1 subs to death, it's not all that much of a difference, except being better at killing Sou-istles.

The main advantage this deck gun has over the others is not missing, so the lower DPS on paper isn't much of a burden. It also has full traverse thanks to being mounted on a folding arm a la UEF Engineer arms (General Hall jokingly protested this design decision)

 **Aeon Sylph** : LWHD 44-11-4-3, 550 tons, 550 HP (+1/sec), 1100 time units

Chrono Torpedo: 40 DPS, 4x40 (in 1.5 seconds) per 4 seconds at range 32, speed 5-12.5

The Sylph has the comfort of never needing to surface for anti-hover operations, though it still can for the sake of navigating around tricky terrain. It has had its salvo size increased since the Seraphim War to overwhelm torpedo defence better. It has also become cheaper than the other submarines as it can't add to its DPS with a deck gun.

 **Seraphim Sou-istle** : LWHD 45-12-4-3, 600 tons, 420 HP (+0.8/sec), 1200 time units

Uall Cavitation Torpedo: 37.5 DPS, 2x75 (in 0.5 seconds) per 4 seconds at range 32, speed 5-12.5

Oh Spectra Cannon (surfaced): 22.5 DPS, 15 per 2/3 second at range 32

Ajellu Anti-Torpedo: 1 interception per 15 seconds at range 32

Curiously, the Seraphim torpedo tops out at the same speed as the Cybran and Aeon torpedoes, at 250m/s, just short of 486 knots.

The Sou-istle's anti-torpedo interception capacity has been improved (only relevant in group fights) in response to the other factions increasing their subs' rate of fire.

* * *

 **Tier 1 Frigate** : UEF Thunderhead, Cybran Trident, Aeon Beacon and Seraphim Hau-esel

All: 120m/s

Curiously, one on one with neither getting in free shots (the Beacon has better range in reality and thus can kite) and neither dodging a hit, they will usually achieve mutually assured destruction in the Seraphim War era Trident vs Beacon, Trident vs Hau-esel, Beacon vs Thunderhead cases, and be close in the others. In said cookie-cutter matches, Trident beats Thunderhead, and Hau-esel beats Beacon and Thunderhead.

And yes, given the displacements versus masses, we are fully aware that our Frigates are severely ballasted down. Please note though that the Cybran and Seraphim hulls are not nearly as regularly shaped as the UEF and Aeon hulls, so the displacement is FAR less than the dimensions indicate.

Frigates are by far the best tools to deal with the two Tier 1 Hover Army Unit Packs.

 **UEF Thunderhead** : 600 tons, LWHD 87-12-20-3, 2120 HP (+3/sec), 1500 build time (75 seconds at Tier 1 Naval Factory)

Radar Jammer (-10 energy/sec), Vision 32, Water Vision 16, Radar 80, Sonar 82

Gauss Cannon: 50 DPS, 140 per 2.8 seconds at range 28, splash radius 1

Linked Railgun (AA): 15 DPS, 2x5 per 2/3 second at range 48

Due to tech changes, the Hau-esel and Thunderhead have swapped costs since the Seraphim War. The Radar Jammer simply costs too much to cheapen with improving sensor techs over time. Look through the alternative units list for other options if you really need to bulk up anti-surface DPS. Unlike the other factions' frigates, the upgrades available to the Thunderhead are limited in number due to already being designed to its limit in efficiency (though not even one-fifth of the actual hull form's displacement) to include and come close to powering a jammer which can work with a long enough radius to actually trick enemy sensors at sea with a couple false signatures.

The Thunderhead is the only Frigate guaranteed to remain useful late into a battle regardless of which upgrade schematics an ACU pilot brings to the field.

 **Cybran Trident** : 528 tons, LWHD 98-21-16-5.5, 1900 HP (+2.6/sec), 1320 build time (66 seconds at a Tier 1 Naval Factory)

Vision 32, Water Vision 16, Radar 80, Sonar 82

Proton Cannon: 60 DPS, 40 per 2/3 seconds

(Twin) Electron Autocannon (AA): 10 DPS, 2x3 per 0.6 seconds at range 48

The Trident is considered the most cost-effective Frigate, hence the relative lack of alterations to the base form stats (though it is 6 mass and 30 time units cheaper than before, partly by shaving the old quad mount Electron Autocannon down to an improved twin mount counterpart). However the remodels/upgrades available to it are plentiful and powerful.

 **Aeon Beacon** : 560 tons, LWHD 89-29-14.5-5, 1800 HP (+2.5/sec), 1400 build time (70 seconds at Tier 1 Naval Factory)

Vision 32, Water Vision 16, Radar 80, Sonar 82

2x Quantum Cannon: Each 28 DPS, 140 per 5 seconds at range 31, splash radius 1

Quasar Anti Torpedo: 2 interceptions per 10 seconds

The Beacon's price has been cut by 10 mass from the Seraphim War era (where it cost 290 mass) and 50 time units, to try to make it less disadvantaged against the Trident. The anti-torpedo system has also been improved. Further upgrades are available for those commanders who wish to see their early-battle spending not be wasteful later on.

The alpha strike and superior range is what lets this fight the Trident evenly. If it can draw the Trident into a stern chase and time things right, it can even beat the Trident decisively. And given said types of chases were why one of the turrets is mounted behind the superstructure… the battle AI does this whenever possible. Commanders should be aware to update their "do not expose" areas on their battle maps though, as just 28 DPS over the stern (and bow) arcs takes a lot of time and pursuit distance to wear down the Trident's 1900 HP significantly, even accounting for a number of seconds of free 56 DPS damage-dealing on a diagonal chase after the forward turret is un-shadowed, just prior to full confrontation. When pursuing enemy Frigates, the Beacon will drop back to beyond enemy firing range and slowly whittle the enemy down, which works for everything except other Beacons. And besides, Frigate sensors can tell if there's an ambush ahead… unless the enemy has stealth systems working already.

 **Seraphim Hau-esel** : 580 tons, LWHD 91-31-20-4, 2000 HP (+2.7/sec), 1450 build time (72.5 seconds at Tier 1 Naval Factory)

Vision 32, Water Vision 16, Radar 80, Sonar 82

Shie-eih Autocannon: 54 DPS, 3x20 (in 0.5 seconds) per 10/9 seconds at range 28, splash radius 1

Shleo AA Autogun: 10 DPS, 2x2 per 0.4 seconds at range 48

The Hau-esel has been improved by way of cost cuts (by 10 mass = 20 tons and 50 time units). The anti-surface weapon has been moved to a frontal mount, for the simple reason that the Hau-esel doesn't have the stern chase kiting advantage of the Beacon to justify a rear mount anyhow.

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 **Tier 1 AA Boat**

 **Aeon Shard** : 240 tons, 160m/s, LWHD 28-10-5.5-1.5, 750 HP (+1/sec), 800 time units (40 seconds at Tier 1 Naval Factory)

Vision 32

Sonic Pulse Battery: 35 DPS, 3x7 (0.2 second burst) per 0.6 seconds at range 48

Please remember the Sonic Pulse (read: concussive resonance wave) is unleashed upon the structural field only AFTER the shot hits the target.

This is the lightest and fastest naval unit in the coalition arsenal, and has spawned numerous varieties under the skilled (and extremely bored, since he was viewed as grossly inept at cleansing and mostly trotted out for intense ACU battles) hand of Xavier Fran over the three centuries he has served the Aeon. The Frantic Unit Pack (Fran expresses his disappointment at the bad name, and advocates for use of the official label of "Aeon Fast Navy Unit Pack" instead, especially because his later student Marxon added to the Unit Pack) includes said units for those who are interested.

* * *

 **Please note that Naval Transports of all tiers are not listed in the Standard Roster, despite quite literally being the oldest type of naval vessel ever. This is because most pilots only carry one or two varieties of the many…**

* * *

 **Tier 2 Destroyer** : UEF Valiant, Cybran Salem, Aeon Exodus and Seraphim Uashavoh

All: 4500 tons, 10000 time units (250 seconds at Tier 2 Naval Factory)

The effectively uselessly short-ranged (37) Sonar systems have mostly been removed, as Water Vision is more than sufficient for that task, in favour of expanding Radar from 35 to an actually useful radius of 55. However, accompaniment by Cruisers (a label for an AA/intel ship, not for a heavier warship compared to destroyers as the early cruiser-destroyer relationship was) is still essentially mandatory.

Unlike most submarines, Destroyers' primary role is not torpedo duty, so now that Tier 2 Sub Hunters are a thing, **Destroyers' icons mostly changed to a Tier 2 direct-fire surface ship** instead (so a + sign inscription instead of a T), except the Uashavoh when it dives, where it uses the submerged icon (a semicircle bulging downwards) with a torpedo inscription (the Seraphim do not need a T2 Sub Hunter with this multirole unit around).

 **UEF Valiant** : 110m/s, LWHD 117-20-27-4, 7200 HP (+7/sec),

Vision 32, Water Vision 45, Radar 55

2x Twin Gauss Cannon: Each 137.5 DPS, 2x275 per 4 seconds at range 60, splash radius 1

Linked Railgun: 25 DPS, 2x10 per 0.8 seconds at range 60

Angler Torpedo: 25 DPS, 2x100 per 8 seconds at range 45, torpedo speed 5-11.5

Smart Charge Anti-Torpedo: 2 flares per 7.5 seconds at range 15-30

The turrets have been moved closer to the ends of the ship to improve arcs of fire, and the Valiant's top speed has been bumped up above the others to help it close the range on the Cybran and Aeon destroyers. It has the best surface-to-surface DPS of the lot, and now that the speed boost has been engineered in and the gun angles have been improved, it can close the range, then keep pace with full broadside fire even if they flee… even if they did get in a few shots while it was closing the range.

The 20-grid range gap, closed at 1.5 grids per second against the Salem and even slower for the Exodus (unlike the Salem's 90-degree blind arc over the rear, the Exodus is only blind over 40 degrees, so running away at an angle instead of reversing is better for drawing out the chase), is a real pain. However, naval artillery velocity is generally about 25-40 grids per second (so about 500m/s-800m/s) for weapons stealth reasons, aimed at where the target is expected to be, and Oblivion Cannons and Short-Barrelled Proton Cannons are on the _low "end" of that range_ , and thus not too hard to dodge. Then again, the Valiant was more of a defensive weapon anyhow, as the Governor's Tactical Missiles, complete with (once again) target seeking, was and is still the main distance killer of the UEF Tier 2 Navy.

The torpedoes (despite the increase in ROF and DPS) are embarrassingly bad enough that escorting Valiants with Coopers is highly recommended, and the anti-torpedo flares are also slow to reload compared to its competitors (though much better than the old 10 seconds). However, the Valiant still does well with its sheer surface-to-surface DPS. It also heals faster than the others, in exchange for its mind-numbingly bad range disadvantage, particularly important in this day and age of Tier 3 Heavy Point Defences coming into use for every faction… though the Governor and Bulwark (and Thunderheads for the radar jammers) cover well for the Valiant, and the Summit outranges all the other battleships, as well as Tier 2 Artillery Installations…

 **Cybran Salem** : 100m/s at sea, 30m/s on land, LWHD 94-33-26.5-7, 6050 HP (+5/sec),

Vision 32, Water Vision 45, Radar 55

Dual Short-Barreled Proton Cannon: 230 DPS, 2x115 per 1 second at range 80, splash radius 1

(Paired) Nanite Torpedo Launcher Pods: Total 100 DPS, 2x200 (1 second salvo from the 2 pods) per 4 seconds at range 45, torpedo speed 5-12.5

(Quad) Electron Autocannon (AA): 48 DPS at range 60, 4x8 per 2/3 second

(Paired) Anti Torpedo Flare: 2 flares per 3.75 seconds at range 15-30

The Salem is a crown jewel of Cybran military technology, able to function not only as a powerful naval superiority unit but also as a powerful, long-ranged mobile firebase on land, essentially in the form of mobile artillery. It is fatally weak on a per-cost basis only to Fatboys on land, due to the mix of DPS, sturdiness and sheer range for a land unit. However, the flight speed of its ammunition at 25 grids per second (500m/s) leaves a great deal to be desired due to being short-barrelled to cut down on costs (unlike, say, the Siren), improve fire arcs (e.g. depress to the max without hitting anything) and, in related news, limited by weapons stealth constraints. The Cybrans are as a result the only faction where the Cruiser _literally outguns_ the Destroyer, though the Siren is far frailer and the issue can be fixed by a customization (a slight increase in cost and restrictions on close combat on land, for a great boost to muzzle velocity.

In a straight fight or ambush knife-fight any of the other destroyers would clobber the Salem. Its long range and agility however enable it to almost always engage on favourable terms, such as evading Exodus-class Oblivion Cannon fire while backing up and manoeuvring, or reverse-kiting a Valiant until it gets too close, then charging into torpedo range to out-DPS it. The Uashavoh can be drawn toward Cybran torpedo installations if it simply refuses to be kited on the surface. However, due to the 80% reverse speed and its weapons all pointing forward, it isn't all that ideal on the defensive, unless on land where it can reverse at full land speed.

For an idea of how important the surface-amphibious Salem is to Cybran strategy, there is a whole Unit Pack dedicated purely to Salem derivatives, and they are seen as a natural naval escort to the Megalith during amphibious assaults. The number of customization options available for the Salem is also rather immense, to the point where, with some sacrifice of efficiency in any one particular role, a Cybran commander can have a whole walking combined army-navy of Salem derivative designs. Of course, they'd get steamrolled by Fatboys, but that's what running away over the sea is for… or jumping the Fatboys with a few Monkeylords away from the UEF Omni coverage.

Oh, and on a last note, video games that depict the Salem as pausing in Proton Cannon fire to fire torpedoes ought to be beyond ashamed of themselves.

 **Aeon Exodus** : 100m/s, LWHD 110-37-22.5-5.5, 7500 HP (+6/sec)

Vision 32, Water Vision 45, Radar 55

Oblivion Cannon: 212 DPS, 1060 per 5 seconds at range 80, splash radius 2

Harmonic Depth Charges: approx. 106 DPS, 350 per 3.3 seconds at range 45, projection speed 14, water speed 10

Chrono Torpedo: 75 DPS, 2x150 per 4 seconds at range 45, torpedo speed 5-12.5

Quasar Anti-Torpedo: 2 Interceptions per 3.8 seconds at range 15-45

The self-contained plasma bolt that is the Oblivion Cannon only moves at a speed of 30, or 600m/s. This is not very much, but the version on the Exodus is specifically calibrated to two-shot any Frigate on hits or very close misses.

The Exodus is a superb fighter against any naval surface unit, but has trouble handling large numbers of hover units (unless in sufficient numbers of Exoduses to lay down a field of splash), and can be in theory wrecked by anything that flies. The combat AI will charge to close combat every time against ships, except when kiting is possible, in order to deploy its powerful depth charges (which also work fine against surface targets) and torpedoes, and to elevate hit rates for the Oblivion Cannon to be as high as possible.

Please note though that while interception-type torpedo defence is good against limited numbers of torpedoes, flares are much better against large numbers, despite being less than fully reliable. In a one-on-one fight, any non-UEF destroyer's interception torpedo defence can fully shut down a non-Seraphim destroyer's torpedoes, but in a massed battle, flares win in amount of damage mitigated.

 **Seraphim Uashavoh** : 100m/s, LWHD 111-39-23-4, 6500 HP (+5.5/sec)

Vision 32, Water Vision 45, Radar 55 (surfaced), Sonar 55 (submerged)

2x Ultrachromatic Beam Generator: Each 100 DPS, 400 damage (over 0.8 seconds) per 4 seconds at range 60, splash radius 1

Ana-it Torpedo Launcher: 120 DPS, 90 per 0.75 seconds at range 45, torpedo speed 5-12.5

Ajellu Anti-Torpedo: 2 interceptions per 3.8 seconds at range 15-45

The Ultrachromatic Beam Generators of the Uashavoh has lost a great deal of effectiveness since the Seraphim War due to improvements in structural field tech and spending mass freed up by efficiency improvements on improved underwater passive stealth and sensors tech instead. It could not maintain the old alpha strikes of 470 and 420 respectively. On the other hand, the two weapons are now equal in power. The second Seraphim torpedo technology, only found on the Uashavoh, is due to concerns over putting all their eggs in one basket. It is noted for, in the present iteration, actually firing fast enough to overwhelm torpedo defence reload rates, unlike the other destroyers.

Also unlike the others, the Uashavoh can submerge, which allows it to serve as the best Tier 2 Sub Hunter due to its sheer durability compared to the other dedicated Tier 2 Sub Hunters. It has enough Water Vision to make it work, and can repurpose its radar energy requirements to adequate sonar. The result is that the Uashavoh is submerged quite often. This submergence, an extremely useful and rather costly ability (as maintaining a powerful structural field underwater while maintaining stealth is… a challenge to say the least…) is the main reason why its surface armament is rather outclassed by the other Destroyers. It will be annihilated with ease by the Exodus, particularly as the anti-torpedoes cannot intercept Harmonic Depth Charges, but, hiding underwater, can beat the Salem and Valiant one-on-one reliably as they cannot overcome its torpedo interception, nor can they prevent damage completely with their flares.

Uashavohs have a blind spot close to their right flank, beside the superstructure, where they cannot bring their Ultrachromatic Beam Generators to bear, and more generally have problems firing both weapons over their frontal and rear right arcs. Users should beware this fact, though they can fire both almost straight ahead or to the back. They also completely lack AA weapons, but that's where the Yathsou comes in in a submersible Seraphim fleet.

* * *

 **A/N** : Forged Alliance Forever nerf-batted the Uashavoh's surface weapons much harder than I did, down to total 684 damage per 4 seconds, and buffed its torpedoes to 160 DPS. I call that as an OBSCENELY OP Sub Hunter (2x cost of the other submerged Sub Hunters, 4x HP, 1.4-1.8x the DPS), so I'm clubbing it down from the original 890 per 4 seconds to 800 anti-surface alpha, while almost not touching the torpedoes. Also, the reduced HP (from 6500) makes it less overwhelming compared to the dedicated Sub Hunters.

* * *

 **Tier 2 Cruiser** : UEF Governor, Cybran Siren, Aeon Infinity and Seraphim Ithalua

All: Vision 65, Water Vision 60, Radar 150, Sonar 120, 4000 tons, 90m/s, 8000 time units (200 seconds at Tier 2 Naval Factory)

The sensors and enough on-board reactors to power them, as well as the extremely powerful AA batteries (far better than even Tier 3 AA installations), didn't come cheap in terms of impact on the structural field strength available. Still, instead of cutting prices or improving their various powers, since the Seraphim War, the cruisers have been greatly improved in durability… though to avoid another arms race, none has HP exceeding the alpha of the Solace. However, they are now at least slightly less insanely fragile compared to destroyers for their mass cost, so… hurrah?

Any water-borne mobile shield is STRONGLY advised in escort for ANY of these units.

Please note the Phalanx TMD is sadly somewhat unreliable in the scaled-down form fitted to ships, particularly beyond 20 grids (point blank) range. Of the hard-kill systems, the Zapper is by far the best, while the Ele-athrun is somewhat worse at striking tactical missiles near the edge of its range.

 **UEF Governor** : LWHD 114-16-30-5, 3100 HP (+4/sec)

Cruise Missile: 120 DPS, 4x300 (3-second salvo) per 10 seconds at range 12.5-150, splash radius 3

Gauss Cannon: 50 DPS, 200 per 4 seconds at range 60, splash radius 1

Flayer SAM Launcher: 400 DPS, 4x200 per 2 seconds at range 75, speed 30-45, lifetime 4 seconds

Phalanx Anti-Missile: 1 potential interception per 2 seconds at range 50

This is another less-than-common case of the UEF not having the toughest unit in a particular category. In fact, of the human factions, the Governor is the frailest cruiser, to support the onboard tactical missile fabrication and launch capability. However, like the other cruisers it has been beefed up since the Seraphim War ended (From 2500 HP).

The missile salvo time has been improved from 4.2 seconds, to help overwhelm TMDs (which take 2 seconds to recharge). The Governor can kite every other cruiser to death (in theory) as a result of its range. Another improvement has been the moving of the missile bay back in the ship, with the Phalanx (a name harkening back to the first days of hard-kill anti-missile systems) at the very rear, and the Flayer ahead of the tactical missile bay, so as to give the TMD as much gun arc as possible.

Oh, and whoever modelled the Governor's TMD for most video games really, really undersized the damned thing horribly… it's the same damned size (or at least volume) as found on the Summit and Neptune!

 **Cybran Siren** : LWHD 114-42-29-9, 3250 HP (+4/sec)

Dual Proton Cannon: 230 DPS, 2x115 per 1 second at range 80, splash radius 1

Nanodart Launcher (AA): 441.6 DPS, 6x92 per 1.25 seconds at range 75, velocity 20-35

Nanodart Launcher (Surface): 180 DPS, 6x60 per 2 seconds at range 80

Zapper Anti-Missile: 1 interception per 2 seconds at range 50

In direct combat, the Siren is the best cruiser by a laughable degree. The anti-surface Nanodarts aren't all that accurate or powerful, but they're automatically used whenever there are no air targets to slaughter, and are very useful for quickly wearing down shields and eating structures from long range.

The Air Staging pad on the back is considered far more than just a "goodie" in terms of supporting aerial escort forces for a Cybran fleet, and is why even commanders who carry a large variety of Salem derivatives, including those fitted with powerful AA, still field the Siren.

However, the Siren is not without weaknesses. In anti-air it lags behind the others either in effectiveness and/or pure DPS, mostly due to using the relatively low velocity Nanodarts, which take a couple moments to accelerate to their relatively poor top speed. It also lacks long range bombardment capability.

Since the Seraphim War, the only design change has been to make the main antennae capable of folding back or to the sides to allow the Zapper free traverse over the rear arc.

 **Aeon Infinity** : LWHD 118-38-27-9, 3550 HP (+4/sec)

Dual Quantum Cannon: 70 DPS, 2x140 per 4 seconds at range 60, splash radius 1

2x Zealot AA Missile: Each 300 DPS, 300 per 1 second at range 75, speed 40-50

Will-O-Wisp Anti-Missile: 1 flare per 2 seconds, up to 30 missiles redirected at range 30. Be warned however that missiles that are already too close may not turn quickly enough to avoid hitting the target, or any shields covering it as the case may be.

This is the Cruiser of choice for dealing with high-end enemy aircraft due to its fast and powerful missiles, and in dealing with dense tactical missile attacks, due to how Will-O-Wisp flares work.

 **Seraphim Ithalua** : LWHD 120-43-20-5, 2950 HP (+4/sec)

Laanse Tactical Missile Launcher: 175 DPS, 350 per 2 seconds at range 150, splash radius 2

Olaris AA Artillery: 384 DPS, 2x96 per 0.5 seconds at range 65, splash radius 4

Cleo AA Rotary Gun: 240 DPS, 2x40 per 1/3 second at range 45

Ele-athrun Tactical Missile Defence: 1 interception per 2 seconds at range 50

Having been improved from 2400 HP since the Seraphim War, the Ithalua is still THE weapon of choice when dealing with massed flying enemies. While the Olaris is ineffective against faster targets (e.g. ASFs and Spy Planes), the Cleo AA Rotary Gun has enough muzzle velocity to hit them with reasonable reliability. However, if caught by surface combatants, a Solace, or submarines, it dies with absurd ease, so deploying some Iashavohs (which hover) with the fleet is not a bad idea unless speed is a big problem.

Oh, and whoever recorded the Laanse as doing 500 per shot needs to be fired. Really, did they think the Ithalua's lack of direct-fire capability was THAT pathetic that that much power was needed to balance it? Or that manufacturing tactical missiles onboard was EASY in terms of onboard reactor output costs?

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 **Tier 2 Sub Hunter** : UEF Cooper, Cybran Barracuda, Aeon Vesper

All are more cost-effective than Attack Subs, due to kiting and for the Cooper sheer power for cost, though the gap has closed somewhat since the Seraphim War with Tier 1 subs becoming cheaper. Due to speed they can also kite Uashavohs to a good degree (making time to reload anti-torpedoes), though if cornered they will be annihilated by the vastly tougher destroyer.

 **UEF Cooper** : 1750 tons, 120m/s, LWHD 39-9-9.5-3, 1750 HP (+2.5/sec), 3500 time (87.5 seconds at Tier 2 Naval Factory)

Vision 32, Water Vision 48

Angler Torpedo: 100 DPS, 4x80 (in 0.6 sec from 2 tubes) per 3.2 seconds at range 50, torpedo speed 5-11.5

Smart Charge Anti-Torpedo: 2 flares per 2.5 seconds at range 10-25

The only surface boat of the three, this also was the only one able to take on four attack subs face to face and fight to a draw unless they are on the surface, in which case a Cooper could potentially be smacked by just three non-Aeon subs, even with the old defect of being unable to hit surfaced Sou-istles reliably fixed. It has been improved since then by 4 DPS and about 11% flare reload time. The other T2 Sub Hunters are too delicate, relying on range and speed advantage. This is convenient, as the Cooper is rather cheap, and can be built in large numbers. The bow torpedo tube has been refitted to be two tubes, to shorten salvo time. The DPS has only risen marginally from the Seraphim War 96 DPS (from 4x80 per 10/3 seconds), but there was only so much that could be done for the system given the cost cut from 1800 tons (900 mass) despite the removal of the uselessly short-ranged sonar (35 range… might as well rely on Water Vision instead). However, if encountering Yathsous is possible, buying the customization that is longer-ranged sonar (a Governor is too slow) is recommended for at least a few of the boats in a formation, so that Yathsous can be evaded effectively. Alternatively, fielding the UEF Fast Navy Unit Pack may be a smarter choice, due to speed advantage, even if they're individually less efficient than the standard patterns.

It is now more cost-effective relative to enemy destroyers than before, particularly the ever-irksome submerged Uashavohs due to the water vision upgrade from 45 to the stand-off range of 48 (the Uashavoh's torpedoes can only lock targets and fire at 45 range). However, unless you have Valiants nearby to suppress the Uashavohs from the temptation of surfacing, they will surface and massacre the Coopers with their Ultrachromatic Beam Generators.

 **Cybran Barracuda** : 2200 tons, 130m/s, LWHD 59-12-5-5.5, 1430 HP (+2/sec), 4400 time units (110 seconds at Tier 2 Naval Factory)

Personal Stealth (-30 energy/sec), Vision 32, Water Vision 32, Sonar 60

Nanite Torpedo: 120 DPS, 8x80 (ripple-fired in 1.2 sec from 3 tubes) per 5 seconds at range 45, torpedo speed 5-12.5

Anti-Torpedo Flare: 2 Flares per 12 seconds

The Barracuda has increased its torpedo count specifically to be able to reliably kill any attack sub in one volley, as well as improved the anti-torpedo reload rate, trying to match up better to the Uashavoh. However, it has an advantage in an underwater battle against the powerful destroyer in non-confined waters… 1.5 more speed, allowing it to fire a volley from the edge of Uashavoh torpedo range, then fade to reload its anti-torpedo flares before going in again.

 **Aeon Vesper** : 2200 tons, 130m/s, LWHD 56-20-5.5-5, 1800 HP (+2.5/sec), 4400 time units

Vision 32, Water Vision 45, Sonar 60

Chrono Torpedo: 96 DPS, 6x48 (ripple-fired in 1 sec from 2 tubes) per 4 seconds at range 45, torpedo speed 5-12.5

Quasar Anti-Torpedo: 4 interceptions per 6 seconds

In case anyone is wondering, the water vision is specifically for the purpose of engaging Barracudas on acceptable terms, and the anti-torpedo improvement (from 7.7 seconds) is basically for the same reason. DPS has also risen, but it still gets shredded with ease by Yathsous even if the Tier 3 Sub Hunter doesn't bother moving away to kite the encounter while the Vespers head toward the source of the torpedoes.

* * *

 **Tier 2 Shield Boat**

 **UEF Bulwark** : 2080 tons, 140m/s, LWHD 54-19-13.5-4.5, 750 HP (+1/sec), 4800 time units (120 seconds at Tier 2 Naval Factory)

Shield Radius 32 (horizontal, 8 vertical) (8000 strength, +80/sec, 32 sec reset, -250 energy/sec), Vision 32

The Bulwark has a flattened shield, thus preventing gunships at standard altitude from coming under it… unless they want to become targetable by certain surface-to-surface weapons. It consumes more power than the Parashield, but due to its relative lack of energy density, the energy requirements aren't that far off per unit shield strength, despite stretching it over a much bigger area in a non-spherical shape.

Given this is the fastest hull in the UEF Navy, it should come as no surprise to anyone that the UEF Fast Navy Unit Pack is in large part based on this hull. One should note that this base hull is really a stretched (and widened) Cooper with pontoons to both sides, a modified forecastle shape (i.e. not continuous with the superstructure), a taller superstructure that extends further back, and of course a shield generator just over the stern. Or perhaps the Cooper is a compacted counterpart to this? The details are still classified.

* * *

 **Tier 2 Counter-Intelligence Boat**

 **Cybran CI-18 Mermaid** : 1200 tons, 140m/s, LWHD 48-16-12-4.5, 1500 HP (+1.5/sec), 3000 time units (75 seconds at Tier 2 Naval Factory)

Stealth Radius 40 (-100 energy/sec), Vision 32, Radar 60, Sonar 62

Anti-Torpedo Flare: 2 Flares per 3.8 seconds at range 15-30

Generally abbreviated to just Mermaid, this is a niche unit. The Flood XR Tier 3 Sonar Platform has a bigger stealth field, but it is simply too slow to support a fast raiding fleet, or flee from a losing battle effectively. Deceivers have much smaller stealth fields when put on air transports, and are rather vulnerable, hence this was made as a compromise. This is the fastest hull in the Cybran Navy and unsurprisingly is the basis for the Cybran Fast Navy Unit Pack.

* * *

 **Tier 3 Battleship** : UEF Summit, Cybran Galaxy, Aeon Omen and Seraphim Hauthuum

All: Vision 50, Water Vision 50, Radar 50, Sonar 20, 24000 tons, 45000 time units (750 seconds at a Tier 3 Naval Factory)

The icons have changed to reflect their actual roles in combat, so the UEF, Cybran and Seraphim battleships are marked as artillery ships (dot instead of + inscription on icon) now. The Omen is still a direct-fire icon because it is a surface superiority unit more than a bombardment unit. Some commanders outright call the Omen a battlecruiser instead of a battleship as a result…

And yes, we do realize the underwater volume is beyond absurdly huge for such small mass costs. The answer is, like all other ships, ballast storage (made more ecologically friendly and more stable than primitive ballast tanks by reclaiming water outside and fabricating solid mass stores inside when more is needed, shuffling the mass around as required, and doing the reverse when less ballast mass is needed) for stability.

We also realize that in terms of the raw numbers, battleships are far more cost-effective surface combatants than destroyers… until one looks at the very important speed stat, and the risk of submarines. Oh, and battleships are basically blind (the radar and sonar exist to discourage enemies from building cloaked-but-not-stealthed units, like the old Mole Land Scout before it was swapped to stealth), so require cruiser support… unless you want to spend more mass and time (engineer assists help a great deal) adding upgrades. Customizations tend to be very expensive, but quite useful (read: survivable) given how beefy battleships are.

Once again, we note that the Zapper is the best standard roster hard-kill TMD system, the Ele-athrun second, and the Phalanx the worst.

 **UEF Summit** : 50 m/s, LWHD 272-70-56-12, 51000 HP (+25/sec)

3x Triple Gauss Cannon: Each 150 DPS, 3x1000 per 20 seconds at range 150

4x Linked Railgun: Each 15 DPS, 2x5 per 2/3 second at range 45

2x Phalanx Anti-Missile: Each 1 intercept per 2 seconds at range 50, off either broadside.

The width number above accounts for secondary armament sticking over the sides, it's 60m wide if they're folded in. The Linked Railguns are of the same model as on the Thunderhead. Increasing mass investment allows for increases in their power, or even switching to Flak coverage if it is so desired.

There are quite a number of upgrades available, but most cost quite a significant amount of mass, without really affecting the dimensions (most of the displacement is for stability and filled with ballast stores anyhow). The Summit Class has already been engineered pretty much to the hull configuration's limits in anti-surface capability, and is by far the best baseline battleship, but the others have more room to grow than the Summit ever will.

 **Cybran Galaxy** : 60 m/s, LWHD 250-79-48-9.5, 47000 HP (+24/sec)

2x Triple Proton Cannon: Each 225 DPS, 900 per 4 seconds at range 128, splash radius 2

2x Quad Electron Autocannon: Each 48 DPS, 4x8 per 2/3 second at range 60

Nanite Torpedo: 40 DPS, 8x50 per 10 seconds at range 60

2x Zapper Anti-Missile: Each 1 intercept per 2 seconds at range 50, off either broadside.

The Galaxy has been improved since the Seraphim War to be less miserably outmatched by its rivals, with a better torpedo system and more efficient AA, allowing it to be better when more or less unescorted (though still blind in such circumstances). However, additional design changes (read: improvements) are still possible with additional mass investment in the form of field upgrades, or blueprint upgrade options. Yea verily, the Galaxy Class offers a galaxy of modifications, just like the rest of the Cybran Navy.

Please note that having the Zappers tucked in at the sides gives 66m width for the hull itself.

 **Aeon Omen** : 72 m/s, LWHD 270-77-48-14, 48000 HP (+24 HP/sec)

3x High-Velocity Oblivion Cannon: Each Approx. 169.5 DPS, 1000 per 5.9 seconds at range 100, splash radius 2.

2x Will-O-Wisp Anti-Missile: Each 1 Flare per 4 seconds, up to 30 missiles redirected per flare in range 30.

Nothing sticks out over the sides, so there is no tucked-in width as a result. However, things have changed since the Seraphim War, thus the Omen's Will-O-Wisp flares (a modified, smaller than standard mounting with halved rate of fire) are now mounted at the bow and stern by default (by default, they alternate fire), to improve their effectiveness in protecting the escorting fleet, even though they no longer make the Omen wholly TML-proof due to the small radius of effect not necessarily turning missiles soon enough to avoid hitting the superstructure if they come from directly ahead or astern.

The reason why the Oblivion Cannons of the Omen are weaker than the Exodus Class has is because their weapons stealth has been modified such that they cover 50 grids per second (1000m/s) with essentially a self-contained plasma resonance bolt _without compromising standard active camo or passive stealth_. This is no small feat of engineering! The speed boost is why it's gone back down from 1050 per 6 seconds for 175 DPS each in the 3849 edition, as hitting the target is more important!

The Omen can also be upgraded to have secondary armament in the old TMD positions… though one should note that other patterns (such as using the old flank TMD flare launchers and adding two MORE Oblivion Cannons ahead and astern where there is obviously the space to do so) are definitely possible. Each of the various configurations has its ups and downs, and each commander may deploy a different configuration, or several, or apply upgrades in the field, depending on preferences.

 **Seraphim Hauthuum** : 60 m/s, LWHD 276-75-40-7, 49000 HP (+24.5 HP/sec)

3x Quarnon Cannon: Each 150 DPS, 600 per 4 seconds at range 128, splash radius 2

2x Olaris AA Artillery: Each 30 DPS, 45 per 1.5 second at range 40

2x Ele-athrun Tactical Missile Defence: Each 1 interception per 2 seconds at range 50

Inaino Strategic Missile Launcher: Stores 5 missiles of range 128-1024. Strategic Missile Engineering "1080" per second. If active, -2000/sec energy (total 1920000), -20/sec mass (total 19200), 16:00 per missile (1036800 time units). Inner damage 25000 within radius 30, outer damage drops to 500 by radius 40, and drops to 0 by radius 45.

The parts that stick over the sides are very minor compared to the overall width, perhaps 3m in total. Please note that the strategic missile launches out of the main superstructure, NOT a previous and incorrect claim of having two ports to either side on the hull, just looking at the height of the missile should make this clear.

Assisting strategic missile launchers of any type is LUDICROUSLY inefficient, far worse than assisting strategic missile defence structures. It is highly advised to never assist them, unless you REALLY don't have anything better to throw your engineers at. And if you're wondering why 19200 mass (38400 tons) is needed for a strategic missile, well, strategic missile defences are some of the most powerful warheads other than strategic missiles available, and the facilities to build said warheads are expensive and a deterrent to enemy expansion. So to ensure that ONLY SMDs can shoot a missile down, **strategic missiles need to be immune to anything else that could be thrown at it**. This means not only massive (literally, given the amount of dense material and inertial compensation used on it) armour and structural field strength propagated through that armour, but also the agility to dodge physical blocking unless by, say, a CZAR or Soul Ripper, and even evade an Overcharge bolt from an ACU. This also means that most missile launchers exist not to actually be used, but to force the enemy to build SMDs, or at most to blow up new expansion bases before they can get an SMD loaded.

And then there's the ridiculously hard task of masking a strategic launch against Coalition sensors until the missile reaches cruising altitude and tips over into cruise mode. This stealth makes it so that while the enemy can detect a launch, they can't tell where it came from until its ground position comes within their "radar" or visual coverage. Consider how one might be able to mask the thermal bloom (and gravitic disturbance) of launching a ridiculously reinforced missile of nearly forty thousand tons and the signature highlighting effect the launch has on the battleship it is fired from. Then consider that an ACU can spot a 1m tall cactus falling over 80km away through multiple mountains and even the horizon, using just basic passive sensors. THIS is why the missiles are more expensive than for the submarines (which have equal resource drain and 14 minutes build time instead). The launch signature is simply that much harder to conceal, so the missile needs much more powerful stealth generators, which in turn require more thruster output, etc. You get the idea…

…Oh, and it doesn't affect the ship displacement due to anti-gravity generators being a thing, and the same for quantum storage spaces (sometimes called "Hammer Space" for some reason).

* * *

 **Tier 3 Strategic Missile Submarine** : UEF Ace, Cybran Plan B, and Aeon Silencer

All: 50m/s, Vision 16, Water Vision 35, Sonar 60

We are fully aware these units actually gets listed FIRST in the default build menu setup after engineers. However, for the sake of codex consistency, it was decided to list them immediately after the Hauthuum so that all the launchers are listed together. The missiles are not as tiny as video games would have you believe… nor are they as fast to build. However, video games do get it right that assisting strategic missile construction is just about completely useless (though assisting SMDs is considerably less ineffective).

We also point out that the units are not as heavy nor as small as video games show them (they are depicted at 2/3 size in _every_ dimension for some reason and tend to get shown as double cost), because that would require use of internal anti-gravity systems to not sink due to sheer density… Said systems do exist, but they are used when carrying more than one of the extremely heavy missiles onboard during manufacture and if rapid launch is required. Grabbing missiles from Quantum Storage while recovering from the reactor demands of firing a missile and concealing the launch signature is NOT feasible!

Given how expensive strategic missiles are compared to the subs, it is highly recommended to carry no more than one in a sub, simply due to risk-reward.

When detection, interception, and ridiculously over-done defence (you can detonate a series of strategic missiles in the same area in close succession, which means even a strategic warhead's splash won't kill another one…) aren't such major problems, these missiles are capable of exiting a typical Super-Earth planet's gravity well and acting as interplanetary weapons.

…And yes, customizations do exist that give the Ace and Silencer torpedoes. Unfortunately, they're not usually considered cost-effective. Stealth mods for the subs do exist, but are rather expensive, and usually stealth generator structures are much more cost-effective for the role…

 **UEF Ace** : 10000 tons, LWHD 105-30-7-14, 4000 HP (+4/sec), 30000 time units (500 seconds at a Tier 3 Naval Factory)

Cruise Missile: 200 DPS, up to 2x2000 (at an interval of 2 seconds underwater and 1 second surfaced), but one reload per 10 seconds, at range 15-128, splash radius 3

Nuclear Warhead: Stores 3 missiles of range 128-1024. Strategic Missile Engineering "1080" per second. If active, -2000/sec energy (total 1680000), -20/sec mass (total 16800), 14:00 per missile (907200 time units). Inner damage 25000 within radius 30, outer damage drops to 500 by radius 40, and drops to 0 by radius 45.

The Ace is the only strategic missile submarine capable of surviving a Solace's attack run, if it isn't burdened down to full load with strategic missiles and firing cruise missiles (because firing main weapons at full rate usually cuts HP regen down to 0) since the Solace's torpedoes total 4000, and regeneration between hits will allow the Ace to survive the initial run.

Contrary to common video game modelling, the Ace has the conning tower toward the back, with the three strategic missile bays around the middle of the hull, and two tactical missile hatches ahead. The reactor output only reloads the tactical missiles so quickly, but it can store them for a salvo. This can be a nasty surprise if mixed in with Governors' volleys.

 **Cybran Plan B** : 12000 tons, LWHD 116-55-12-9, 3500 HP (+4/sec)

Loa Tactical Missile: 200 DPS, 2x2000 per 20 seconds at range 15-128, splash radius 4

Nanite Torpedo: 225 DPS, 2x225 per 2 seconds at range 80

EMP Flux Warhead: Stores 4 missiles of range 128-1024. Strategic Missile Engineering "1080" per second. If active, -2000/sec energy (total 1680000), -20/sec mass (total 16800), 14:00 per missile (907200 time units). Inner damage 25000 within radius 30, outer damage drops to 500 by radius 40, and drops to 0 by radius 45.

Like other Cybran TML units, the Loa splits into three upon being intercepted by a hard-kill system. Each sub-missile can do 500 damage for a total of 1500. The Plan B is the only launcher of the Loa that can do proportional damage with sub-missiles, as the TML-4 sums up to 2499 after an interception (from 6000) and the Viper's 120 goes down to 30.

The Plan B's torpedo armament is highly effective in self-defence against most naval threats, considering its cost. It is the only Standard Roster Cybran naval tactical missile launcher. The results, in terms of common customizations to increase its combat value, are quite predictable…

 **Aeon Silencer** : 10000 tons, LWHD 107-29-14-18, 3750 HP (+4/sec)

(Quad) Serpentine Missile: 200 DPS, 4x1000 (in 3 seconds) per 20 seconds at range 15-128, splash radius 2

Quantum Warhead: Stores 4 missiles of range 128-1024. Strategic Missile Engineering "1080" per second. If active, -2000/sec energy (total 1680000), -20/sec mass (total 16800), 14:00 per missile (907200 time units). Inner damage 25000 within radius 30, outer damage drops to 500 by radius 40, and drops to 0 by radius 45.

While unable to survive a Solace run like the Ace can (with HP regen), the Silencer can carry an extra missile if so desired. It has also been modified since the Seraphim War, with lessons taken from the Torrent, to make its tactical missiles more efficient at piercing TMD screens. Observe the shape of the Silencer, and it is evident that the four tactical missile bays are lined up to allow volley launches. Of course, for that task specifically, the Torrent is still much better, being equipped with a warhead type with vastly more splash, better missile range, and much more durability, but the Silencer is a workable alternative.

* * *

 **A/N:** The cost of carriers, on 2 tons per 1 mass, makes then displace (without aid of ballast tanks) only about 8000 tons of water, except the Atlantis, which costs a measly 24000 tons in-game for such a gigantic ship and obviously huge displacement when surfaced. This is patently ridiculous, so I am boosting cost to somewhere within the realm of sanity (it used to have 2.5x the Air Factory build rate at about equal cost to one Tier 3 Air Factory). And even then, given those hull shapes, sizes and volumes, the carriers should really displace something on the order of 10 times that amount of water (so about 160K tons per standard carrier… or 20 tons per mass in-game). To have Armored Assault Bots weigh into the tens of thousands of tons was clearly ludicrous, so… I'm compromising by grossly increasing their costs, and improving effectiveness too. Atlantis won't be changed too much, only double the mass… still absurdly low for its idle displacement according to my visual inspection. In return the Atlantis gets firepower improvements, and some nice Gauss Cannons.

Well, let's say it's a LOT of ballast for the carriers, and the buoyancy is reserve for customizations.

* * *

 **Tier 3 Aircraft Carrier** : Cybran Command, Aeon Keefer and Seraphim Iavish

All: Engineering 150/sec, 60m/s, Vision 85, Water Vision 36, Radar 200, Sonar 40

Carriers store aircraft in Quantum Storage Spaces, colloquially known as "Hammer Space".

Carriers are known for being obscenely light for their displacement, which is mostly made of ballast tanks as reserve buoyancy for carrying aircraft. Hammer Space warps space, but either gravitic control or passive buoyancy are needed to handle weight. They can each be upgraded to an astonishing extent. They are not as cheap as video games show though, or no one would ever build more than a handful of air factories late in a battle, though a carrier is still cheaper than the 2.5 Tier 3 Air Factories needed to equal its build rate, costing about the same as 2 Air Factories and having other abilities besides… though they're more fragile than even one of said factories.

 **Cybran Command** : 14400 tons, LWHD 287-87-53-25, 20000 HP (+10/sec), 28800 time units (480 seconds at a Tier 3 Naval Factory)

4x Quad Electron Autocannon: Each 80 DPS, 4x10 per 0.5 seconds at range 75

Zapper Anti-Missile: 1 interception per 2 seconds at range 50

Aircraft Capacity 50

The Command Class is better than it used to be. Despite still only carrying 50 aircraft and having an exit width of 35 meters, The ship has been shortened significantly, with the air staging access pad pairs on top of the hull reduced from 4 to 3 pairs (visually, the washboard-like flaps on top have been reduced due to the front of the ship being scaled back). This has improved its handling in confined waters, and the upgrade options make it even better. By default, it is unable to build Attack Bombers, Strategic Bombers, or any type of transport, though only the Revenant and transports cannot land on it. Spooks (and Attack bombers) have to fly out sideways using their hovering tech due to the width of the launch tunnel. This just means relying on the Renegade, a fine unit, and Wailers if you can build them and load them, once Geminis win air superiority over a target. Unlike the other carriers, the Command class launches straight ahead in a stream of aircraft, instead of to the sides in alternating waves. This makes attacking and landing a sortie (through the rear, incidentally pointed at the enemy while fleeing) easier.

Customizations can easily be added, as there is plenty of open deck and hull space available. These include customizations that allow carrying and launching of transports and strategic bombers.

 **Aeon Keefer** : 16000 tons, LWHD 336-140-56-12, 22000 HP (+11/sec), 32000 time units (533 and 1/3 seconds at a Tier 3 Naval Factory)

2x Zealot AA Missile: Each 120 DPS, 120 per 1 second at range 75

Aircraft Capacity 60

The Keefer is relatively unremarkable as anything but a mobile air factory and staging facility unless customized. By default, it cannot build Attack Bombers, Strategic Bombers, Mercies, or any form of transport. However, the excellent Aeon gunships are still present for the ground-attack role, and the bombers can be loaded onboard for deployment or repair/refuel if needed.

 **Seraphim Iavish** : 17600 tons, LWHD 359-113-75-10, 24000 HP (+12/sec), 35200 time units (586 and 2/3 seconds at a Tier 3 Naval Factory)

Laanse Tactical Missile Launcher: 250 DPS, 500 per 2 seconds at range 150, splash radius 3

2x Losaare AA Autocannon: 100 DPS, 50 per 0.5 second at range 75

Aircraft Capacity 60

The Iavish is very effective thanks to its TML, but due to the space needed for the weapon, the available mass and volume for the nanolathing facilities were somewhat limited. As a result, Attack Bombers, Strategic Bombers, and all transports are unavailable for construction, though the Notha plus the Vulthoo are a workable combo once Iazynes gain air superiority, and the bombers can be loaded onboard after being built at regular Air Factories anyhow.

* * *

 **Tier 3 Battlecruiser**

This is the true purpose of the icon for a Tier 3 direct-fire surface ship, not the artillery duty that every battleship but the Omen is built for.

 **UEF Neptune** : 15000 tons, 85m/s, LWHD 200-50-55-12, 30000 time units (500 seconds at a Tier 3 Naval Factory)

Vision 40, Water Vision 50, Radar 60

2x Dual Hiro Plasma Beams: Each 283.5 DPS, 2x945 (A 1050 DPS beam for 0.9 seconds) per 20/3 second.

Angler Torpedo: 20 DPS, 4x50 per 10 seconds at range 60.

The uselessly short-ranged sonar (20 range is laughable) has been removed to give the radar range a little bit of a nudge in the right direction (up from 50).

The Neptune is very cost-effective against enemy ships. It can, provided there is equal radar coverage (both sides have it, or neither), crush any three destroyers (except submerged Uashavohs) alone, even if they charge to torpedo range (more HP left if they do not). Against four destroyers they can kill three in a torpedo-range charge by the destroyers against a stationary Neptune, but in a gunnery duel they can beat four (unless against Valiants) _without even kiting_ (something done by default in a fleet, unless backed/slowed down by heavier ships). They are specifically designed to kill any destroyer in two full salvos. However, use of these ships against battleships is not recommended under any circumstances, and they are not very effective bombardment ships, as they use beam weapons, which can easily be blunted by sufficient landscape.

A common modification is to replace the forward TMD with a third main turret. This greatly increases the Neptune's cost, raises its target prioritization level by enemy forces, something a relatively fragile capital ship may not be able to afford depending on circumstances, and has other downsides. For example, let's not forget about how the Phalanx is relatively unreliable, especially when the missile isn't flying nearly straight at the TMD… so a few Tactical Missiles and the Neptune would be toast, unless additional TMDs were fitted by another customization. The cost would end up above a stock Summit-class battleship… which would flatten it with trivial ease (three broadsides, so two reloads totalling 40 seconds, is enough) in a fight due to sheer range and alpha strike advantage, plus running away to draw out the chase. The closing rate of 1.75 grids per second would take 40 seconds to eat up the range gap of 70, though the Summit turning to present broadside fire will reduce the time needed slightly, it still annihilates the Neptune in a straight fight like that. However, Summits are grossly ineffective against spam meat-shield units such as Frigates, unlike the Neptune.

* * *

 **Tier 3 Sub Hunter**

 **Seraphim Yathsou** : 6000 tons, 120m/s, LWHD 69-28-12-8, 4500 HP (+2/sec), 12000 time units (200 seconds at Tier 3 Naval Factory)

Vision 32, Water Vision 45, Sonar 90

Uall Cavitation Torpedo: 300 DPS, 4x300 (in 1.5 seconds) per 4 seconds at range 65, torpedo speed 5-12.5

Losaare AA Autocannon (when surfaced): 150 DPS, 50 per 1/3 second at range 65

Ajellu Anti-Torpedo: 2 Interceptions per 6 seconds at range 32

For some reason, video games tend to render the Yathsou as about 1/6 to 1/7 smaller in every dimension than it actually is. They don't understand that that would have required more than passive buoyancy when surfaced. They also tend to grossly over-buff the AA from what it actually was. The human navies could never have kept back the Seraphim for the span of the Seraphim War if it was actually that grossly overpowered…

Mind you, it's still more than cost-effective on a per-unit basis compared to the human factions' Tier 2 Sub Hunters (about 3x cost for 2.5-3x durability AND 2.5-3x DPS), but it's not the Sub Jesus that video games depict it as. Even if it had the fictional 335 DPS 70-range torpedoes (which fired in looser salvos) three of that era's Barracudas could murder one in a slugging match due to sonar stealth, even sans micromanagement, with one Cybran sub leaving intact. Coopers on the other hand would get annihilated unless they have sonar coverage, in which case they also win 3v1 with 1 surviving, usually at full HP. Vespers on the other hand fail spectacularly against the Yathsou due to being outranged, out-spotted, and lacking the Barracuda's ability to disengage at will due to stealth.

Note that attacking Solaces (or other torpedo bombers) will by default assign enough TBs to reliably kill each Cruiser (e.g. 2 Solaces each if there are many anti-torpedo systems around), then proceed to target the least HP per AA DPS units (which they can actually target) in order, and in sufficient allocation to kill them in as little time as possible. This usually means Yathsous are second on the list after all the Ithaluas go down. Unfortunately for the Yathsou, while it is still a fine unit and considered somewhat overpowered, it doesn't have very much room for customizations without increasing the size for passive buoyancy…

* * *

 **Tier 3 Missile Ship**

 **Aeon Torrent Mk 2** : 21000 tons, 60m/s, LWHD 242-60-42-12, 15000 HP (+7.5/sec), 42000 time units (700 seconds at a Tier 3 Naval Factory)

Vision 70, Water Vision 50, Radar 110, Sonar 20

2x Serpentine Tactical Missile Rack (6): Each 300 DPS, 6x1000 (in 4.5 seconds) per 20 seconds at range 25-200, splash radius 5

Will-O-Wisp Tactical Missile Defence: Up to 30 redirections within range 30 per 2 seconds.

Quasar Anti-Torpedo: 4 Interceptions per 3.8 seconds at range 15-45

We stuck the TMD in for the 3850 edition instead of building the ground-side launcher building into the hull and/or carrying three racks of four (better vs TMDs that way) like in the 3849 edition, because missiles nowadays have some tracking ability. Aeon TMD isn't good at area denial, so the fleet's TMDs will have a hard time protecting it while still leaving space to manoeuvre. The Torrent is a very high value, relatively fragile target, so… putting a TMD on it basically solved that problem. On the other hand, the ship did get even more expensive than the original Torrent…

* * *

 **A/N** : I hope my rebalances make sense (the Yathsou was rather overpowered before), because I'll be using them as references for my writing (except pre-3850 story arcs such as Forged Awakening and Hinata Supreme). The list of customizations will come later, after I go through the Command Units and Experimentals.


	5. Command Units

**A/N: UNIT HEIGHTS UPDATED**

I inserted a new mechanic explaining why Operational Areas are SO TINY and why they haven't fortified the crap out of planets yet.

Anyone who thinks I dislike the UEF over either of the other human factions, congratulations, you figured out that I hate space Nazis who would "rule this planet or see it burn to ashes around us" a la Option Zero. It must amaze you that I prefer Glorious Freedom Fighters (!) or "You killed our teachers out of berserk xenophobia—" The timeline on the wiki is absolute BS since it is well known that on the original SupCom website they stated that it was a paranoid EarthCom commander who attacked the Seraphim upon arriving at the colony. Do not fall for Earth empire/UEF propaganda and lies "—prepare to die… or join our psionic network of peace, rainbows and general harmony… well, uh, that's what we try to do anyhow… *scratches head*" folks. Though a LOT of the Aeon commanders did eventually go into EXTERMINATE MODE, the UEF is just as bad against the Cybrans (liberated Cybrans are too hard to re-enslave so KILL THEM ALL!) and Aeon.

If you figured out I dislike the UEF over either other human faction, give yourself a cookie.

 **If you realized that I completely rebalanced the Command Units, also give yourself a cookie. Note that they aren't necessarily balanced, since this isn't a game where you can build a pile of SCUs… you need to call them in from HQ!**

* * *

 **Codex Entry 4: Command Units**

There was a problem, during the collapse of the Earth Empire, of local governors or commanders getting overinflated egos. Local fortifications were from that time onward generally very limited with no factories or full-scale engineering units, with exceptions near particularly important bases such as Fort Clarke or Black Sun, specifically to prevent insurrection or infiltration from doing too much damage. This unfortunately holds true for all three factions, since even the Cybrans were always conscious of potential UEF or Aeon infiltrators, and of Nodes going rogue (like earlier counterparts of the Seven Hand).

In addition, note that civilian-sized Quantum Gates for rapid evacuations are just not good enough for military use (TOO SMALL). Thus comes the need for ACUs which can gate onto a distant world, construct a base, and engage the enemy ACU pilots with robotic armies built in the field within minutes of arrival. Due to the risk of saboteurs in the local civilian populations (it is difficult to pull off, but evacuations are often done under poor, rushed conditions… and liberated Cybrans are hard to distinguish from Symbiont slaves), the civilian and incoming ACU pilot command grids are often isolated from each other.

Anyone dumb enough to think major fixed defences would work when you often can't even risk hooking up commanders directly to the local cities' handful of mass fabricators, reclaimers, extractors and power generators… you get the idea. Then there's how ACUs can jam unit-to-commander quantum communications down to at best about 150 kilometers radius and at worst about 40 kilometers (such as the quantum wake-ridden area called Seton's Clutch) depending on conditions. THAT is why Novaxes are sub-orbital units, and why Operational Areas tend to be really tiny affairs, with hundreds of Commanders battling for vital areas across a planet in the conquest thereof. Then there's how it's impossible to defend even a hundred kilometers of front line adequately with the units of one ACU, even counting Control Nodes and the one or two SCUs you can build or call in from HQ. Transferring units to allies sounds great and all, but it takes quite a bit of time (depending on the unit's build time cost) to complete a transfer without it being easy to hijack by the enemy. This means any units that are still in an ACU's control when it explodes will self-destruct immediately to prevent being stolen by the enemy.

It is possible to build other factions' units if you capture an engineer (unfortunately, units being captured cannot prime their self-destruct systems), but the schematics are drastically black-boxed and wreckage is always thoroughly self-destructed. While you can figure out how a weapons system works more or less, to build an imitation is more often than not less effective at factional doctrine than you'd like. It is almost always less cost-effective than the systems you actually have too, much to the consternation of UEF and Aeon scientists dealing with Geminis and trying to stick equivalent missile systems on their factions' air superiority fighters. On the other hand, since Geminis are completely unable to regenerate HP in combat due to needing to throw mass into missiles while the Wasp, Corona and Iazyne are all still able to regenerate some due to their energy weapons, and of course can fly backwards or sideways to continually fire… it's not that big of a problem.

ACUs and SCUs are relatively few in number because of two main reasons though. One, there are fairly few people who are talented enough to make it into and through Commander training. Two, the sociopaths among those who are talented, who can come home after killing a few billion enemy civilians and be completely unaffected, without going on killing sprees for laughs, are far, far fewer. One person in a few million is perfectly acceptable when you have over a trillion people per faction…

When the Seraphim initially made their return into the Milky Way, they were not well-versed in ACU warfare despite the Seraphim Republics' claims as to the Imperium learning of it by their spy drones over the centuries. What they had come up with was remarkably similar to the human solutions for the rapid deployment of armies in the field, and it was fortunate that they weren't all that good at it, for it gave the time for the humans to scramble new technologies into service and upgrade their units to stand toe-to-toe with Seraphim units. The ancestors of the Seraphim units, over a thousand years ago, had crushed human forces with overwhelming ease, but no more…

Ever since the Seraphim War, there has been a whole shitload of bitching from the human factions' Command Unit pilots about how the Seraphim ACU and SCU are "overpowered" once loaded up with mods which are effective in greatly boosting their ability to support armies on the offensive. In response, more modifications have been developed for the human Command Units, and the Seraphim Republics took their cue in terms of dividing up the modification slots more. Things spiralled out from there to the present state where things are, more or less, balanced.

In other news, anyone stupid enough to believe that Coalition females only ovulate when they take certain medications has never had the intelligence to contemplate a potential collapse-of-civilization scenario. After all it's the whole reason Tiers -3 through 0 designs even exist, to get the ACU pilot—civilians are not given these blueprints—up to Tier 1 from which civilization rebuild is possible. No, all contraceptive implants automatically shut off every so often (almost always every 5 or 10 years) and need to be switched back on. Due to it being post-Scarcity, unintended pregnancies are generally accepted with a shrug unless the woman is REALLY doing something important right now and cannot afford any hindrance (e.g. active duty ACU pilot during a time of Incursion). After all, the first thing a woman does on seeing problems in a relationship is—by common cultural agreement since well before the Infinite War—checking her contraceptive implant, so failing relationships are very rare as a (self-reported according to surveys) reason to abort…

As a side note, while it is considered a massive breach of trust and a reason for dishonourable discharge if used without express permission (or in memory of a recently dead spouse), ACU pilots are allowed to (with permission, not to be confused with permission to actually USE the sample) keep genetic samples from everyone they've ever, uh, copulated with. This is next to the few thousand genetic patterns stored within every ACU by default. So every ACU can re-establish civilization, should it become necessary. The option is inaccessible within two years of being in contact with HQ, and given the communications/tracking range for the Quantum Gate Network is much more than the gating range and various other classified reasons, there have been no successful escapes to date.

 **No, Command Units do NOT NORMALLY come with self-destruct codes (though Colonel Arnold, when forced into Aeon service, had such codes for his ACU).** That would be horrendously vulnerable to Cybran electronic warfare capabilities and would have destroyed the other human factions too easily. The Aeon Civil War would also not have happened.

* * *

 **Armoured Command Unit**

All (base forms): 36000 tons, 34 m/s, Engineering 10/sec, Vision 26, Water Vision 26, Omni 26, 60000 time units (used for reference during repairs)

All Economic: +1/sec mass, 650 storage, +10/sec energy, 4000 storage

The Armoured Command Unit is the only unit capable of gating long distances without a receiving Quantum Gate, or being recalled from a location (recall equipment reliability varies depending on conditions) over very long distances. Please note that having a receiving gate greatly reduces the magnitude of the Quantum Wake (and associated shockwave), among other benefits. The equipment required for these capabilities is immensely expensive in terms of mass and energy cost (the ACU would in theory cost 5,000,000 energy and 18000 mass to repair from 0 HP), and the mass can be redistributed to armour, thus an ACU's self-repair should generally be left to its own regeneration devices until late in a battle.

And there is also the Overcharge Negation system, which makes firing an Overcharge Cannon at another ACU comparatively pointless (it only does 500 damage, 400 for a Light Chronotron Overcharge). That also costs a whole lot of mass, and is a system SCUs are not equipped with.

Each Armoured Command unit is now, after extensive improvements, capable of sustaining command and control of up to 2000 units (up to 1000 in base gate-in form) once a Tier 3 economy is reached for a while. The ACU passively upgrades itself over time in this respect so long as resource flows are significantly positive. If Control Nodes are destroyed, additional units can be handled by the ACU, but no new units can be built until the ACU is once again operating below peak sustained capacity. Control Nodes and SCUs will each add 500 units to the unit cap, and high-ranking commanders are typically authorized to build up to three Control Nodes to augment their armies. This is almost never necessary though as battles are generally decided with less than 1500 units on either side unless it's intentionally dragged out.

 **Before you start wondering why the modifications have such obscenely short build times for their costs, it is because the ACU is as a class designed specifically to upgrade very, very quickly** … though usually this is late in a battle, as the upgrades are so expensive they need a large economy to afford. As you should be able to tell, there have been many changes to the upgrade system since the Seraphim War, including shoulder upgrade slots and a separation between chest and back-mounted equipment.

 _Length stat is listed with arms pointed down toward the ground versus raised horizontally in ready position._

* * *

 **United Earth Federation ACU** : LWH 10/22-30-42, 12000 HP (+10/sec)

2x Plasma Cannon: Each 100 DPS, 100 per 1 second at range 1-22

Light Plasma Beam (right arm only): 25 DPS, 25 per 1 second at range 25

Overcharge Cannon: 12000 per 4 seconds max at range 22, splash radius 2

Meltdown: (Approximate, as with all strategic-sized weapons) 3500 damage in range 30, dropping to 500 by range 35, 0 by range 40.

Modification Mounts: Left Arm, Right Arm, Left Shoulder, Right Shoulder, Back, Chest

The aesthetics of the UEF ACU have not changed for a very, very long time, because it simply _works_. That being said, the modifications certainly HAVE changed.

Left Arm:

Tech 2 Engineering Suite: 720 Mass, 18000 Energy, 900 time units, Build Rate +20, HP +3000, HP/sec +20 (stacks with base). Allows the ACU to build Tier 2 structures on its own.

Tech 3 Engineering Suite: Stacks on Tech 2 Engineering Suite, 2400 Mass, 50000 Energy, 6000 time units, Build Rate +60 (stacks with Tech 2 suite for total +80), HP +5000 (stacks for total +8000), HP/sec +15 (stacks for total +35). Allows the ACU to build Tech 3 structures and Experimentals on its own. Yes, adding additional engineering capacity in a way that doesn't interfere with existing capacity does take up that goddamned much mass.

Nano-Repair System: 3000 Mass, 225000 Energy, 2000 time units, HP/sec +1.5% of total HP (so at least +180 HP/sec)

Zephyr Cannon: 1600 Mass, 24000 Energy, 1600 time units. Adds 1x Zephyr Anti Matter Cannon, 700 DPS, 700 per 1 second at range 30, splash radius 2. Contrary to video game rule-of-cool claims, the base weapon is NOT a Zephyr Anti Matter Cannon, or the yield would be far too small to be worthwhile.

Gun-Launched Torpedo: Does not exclude any other modification to this arm. 400 Mass, 8000 Energy, 500 Time Units. Adds 1x (Single Tube) Angler Torpedo, 75 DPS, 150 per 2 seconds at range 60. In less technical terms, this means the Plasma Cannon barrel can now be used to launch torpedoes when underwater.

Right Arm:

Zephyr Cannon: 1600 Mass, 24000 Energy, 1600 time units. Adds 1x Zephyr Anti Matter Cannon, 700 DPS, 700 per 1 second at range 30, splash radius 2. Contrary to video game rule-of-cool claims, the base weapon is NOT a Zephyr Anti Matter Cannon, or the yield would be far too small to be worthwhile.

Gun-Launched Torpedo: Does not exclude any other modification to this arm. 400 Mass, 8000 Energy, 500 Time Units. Adds 1x (Single Tube) Angler Torpedo, 75 DPS, 150 per 2 seconds at range 60. In less technical terms, this means the Plasma Cannon barrel can now be used to launch torpedoes when underwater.

Secondary Engineering Suite: Does not interfere with any other modification on this arm. 300 Mass, 7500 Energy, 375 time units, Build Rate +10, HP +1000, HP/sec +5. This removes the standard Light Plasma Beam (which has the range to dissuade T1 Land Scout kiting mobs) and replaces it with an engineering suite, as found on the left arm.

Enhanced Sensor Suite: 750 Mass, 12500 Energy, 625 time units. Raises ACU's Omni to 72 (from 26), Vision/Water Vision to 32 (from 26). Increases base weapon range to 30.

Left/Right Shoulder (1 each):

Shoulder Drone: 100 Mass, 2000 Energy, 250 time units. Adds a Shoulder Drone, which can be commanded separately with a build rate of 5 and a flying speed of 4, essentially a flying Tier 1 Engineer. It is very tactically useful in building walls continuously and slapping extractors on outlying mass deposits early in a battle.

Torpedo Turret: 600 Mass, 12500 Energy, 750 time units. Adds Sonar 60, 1x (Twin Turret) Angler Torpedo, 75 DPS, 4x75 (in 1.2 seconds) per 4 seconds at range 60. A second turret is 10% cheaper as it does not add sonar.

Flak Turret: 250 Mass, 7500 Energy, 500 time units. 1x (Single) Fragmentation Flak: 72 DPS, 36 per 0.5 seconds at range 40, splash radius 4. Slaving this system into the ACU's capabilities was best describable as a painful experience, as the stronger a structural field, the more expensive weapons firing out of it tend to be. There's a reason you can buy 1.5 Sky Boxers for this mass cost, and it only has half a Sky Boxer's DPS, and that reason is called 10 times the base HP. Then there's how none of an ACU's weapons can be allowed to interfere with any form in its battlefield control, and no fitted system can interfere with the structural elements in any way that may affect Recall capability, well…

SAM Turret: 250 Mass, 7500 Energy, 500 time units. 1x Flayer Missile Launcher: 60 DPS, 6x20 per 2 seconds at range 50. Yes, this is basically taken straight off the Continental, and is capable of hitting higher-tier air units. It doesn't hold a candle to the Cybran SCU's Nanite Missile System, though it is cheaper.

Over-Shield Generator: 350 Mass, 35000 Energy, 350 time units. Adds Shield Radius 10, -100 energy/sec, strength 4000, +50/sec, 25 sec reset. Basically this is a Parashield's emitter rebuilt to work on the shoulder of an ACU, at a slightly larger radius than usual (costing some regen)… as you can tell, a lot of modifications had to be made to have a shield emitter that didn't impact structural field strength. It's mainly intended to ablate before the main bubble takes damage, and pop up again quickly to absorb more damage for the main shield.

Back:

Personal Shield Generator: 1500 Mass, 112500 Energy, 1500 time units. Adds Surface Shield, -250 energy/sec, 24000 power, +60/sec, 120 sec reset. This is barred form construction unless the pilot has at least +700 energy balance, to avoid crashing the economy.

Bubble Shield Generator: 3000 Mass, 450000 Energy, 2000 time units. Adds Shield Radius 8, -500 energy/sec, 36000 Strength, +90/sec, 160 sec reset. This is by default locked from construction until the commander has at least five Tier 2 power plants or a Tier 3 up and running, to prevent accidentally crashing one's economy.

Hybrid Shield Generator: Stacks with either Personal Shield Generator or Bubble Shield Generator. Costs equal to the unpurchased one, plus 1000 Mass and 100000 energy to integrate the two systems. This stacks the two systems together, with a result that can allow the ACU to withstand a non-Yolona Oss strategic missile.

Tactical Missile Launcher: 1000 Mass, 50000 Energy, 1000 time units. Adds Cruise Missile, 6000 at range 5-256, splash radius 2. Cost per missile is 180 Mass, 3600 Energy, 2400 time units. Default own engineering rate (when ACU is building other things) 80/sec, but the ACU directs its engineering systems inward to this device with full efficiency whenever the ACU is idle, so it can fire much faster than an installation. This can be fired from underwater. Only one missile can be stored at any given time.

Advanced Tactical Missile Launcher: Stacks with Tactical Missile Launcher 10800 Mass, 630000 Energy, 28800 time units. Adds High Yield Tactical Missile, range 5-256, 12000 in inner radius 15, 250 in outer radius 25. Cost per missile is 3600 Mass, 540000 Energy, 9000 time units. Passive build rate is 80, so engineering suites and an idle ACU are extremely recommended (the build rate can be shaved down a great deal with a Tech 3 Engineering Suite). This can be defeated by TMDs, so is not as useful as some people think. Fortunately, the old bug of Loyalist-redirected missiles not being taken down by one's own TMDs has been solved, so assassinating oneself isn't much of a concern now. Only one missile can be stored at a time.

Chest:

Resource Allocation System: 5000 Mass, 150000 Energy, 1000 time units. Adds +14 Mass/sec, +3300 Energy/sec

Personal Teleporter: 4500 Mass, 450000 Energy, 3000 time units. Teleportation costs 10000 energy per second for 30 seconds, and is limited to a range of 150 kilometers.

Reinforced Structural Integrity Field: 4000 Mass, 140000 Energy, 2000 time units. Adds +50% HP (stacking with whatever else was already put on), plus 4000 HP.

* * *

 **Cybran Nation ACU** : LWH 15/27-25-48, 10000 HP (+15/sec)

Molecular Ripper: 240 DPS, 80 per 1/3 second at range 1-22

Overcharge Cannon: 12000 per 4 seconds max at range 22, splash radius 2

Meltdown: (Approximate, as with all strategic-sized weapons) 3500 damage in range 30, dropping to 500 by range 35, 0 by range 40.

Modification Mounts: Left Arm, Right Arm, Left Shoulder, Right Shoulder, Back, Chest

The Cybran Nation's commanders are gifted with generally superior firepower, but grossly inferior defence compared to UEF commanders. It also bears the most resemblance to the faction's standard commander body armour (in this case a male model) of all the ACU designs.

NOTE: mentioning this not so minor resemblance/fact in close proximity to the Cybran Elite Four commander (one Hannah Shepard) or any of the oddly large of Cybran females who are afflicted by severe breast envy is not recommended. Snide comments to her husband by his fellow Aeon tend to be along the lines of (patently untrue, as the UEF has very few essentially flat women) "If you wanted a flat slab you should have stuck your prick in a UEF aesthetic instead of an abomination who can't even be bothered to look like a proper descendant of her sex doll ancestors". As a side note, higher-ranked ACU pilots are allowed to act as law enforcement on the record, including on-site discipline of hate speech, so they only actually finish those words if Fran lets them dig themselves a deeper hole. Oh, and Hannah would like to inform everyone that after much exercise, massages, and "other" efforts, she is as of 3850 not quite as flat as she used to—oh shut up Ariel, I know I still fit in the male-pattern armour, but it's more than before… _THEY AREN'T MOSQUITO BITES!_

Mentioning the resemblance near Elite Commander Dostya is even dumber, since as originally… manufactured for a UEF owner she was nearly flat. Her second owner bought her instead of letting the first one send her to disposal, then decided he liked a curvier aesthetic with the same personality. He sent her in for hormone treatment instead of just buying a new toy. As acknowledgement of this bit of recognition of non-disposability, Dostya persuaded the commando team that helped extract her (who were astounded to hear a freed "self-maintaining sex doll" was second-hand) to only kill the guy instead of killing him and then destroying his soul with Psi Disruptors. Sure, resurrection was an exceedingly horrible experience, but the incidence of used sex dolls being sold and thus having the chance to be liberated increased greatly once the story got out.

The Cybran Nation's story is a bitter one, the hearts and minds of its people full of the long shadow of slavery and oppression. In fact, it is so bitter over where many of its women came from that it demands the inclusion of this section in its ACU's codex entry, which would originally have not been added, to cover up some of the, ahem, eccentricities of famous ACU pilots.

The Cybrans respect the Aeon Illuminate well enough now that Rhianne Burke has steered them into peace, but cannot forgive the UEF so easily. Dr. Brackman called Rhiza a sister to the Cybran Nation despite her immense kill score, but even President Hall, who as General had been one of the most respected UEF commanders to the Cybran Nation, would count himself fortunate to not trigger an electromagnetic storm merely by visiting a Cybran world. The static from millions of gathered, silent and furious Cybrans bleeding off energy into the air would generate said discharges. Do not forget that the Cybran Nation has a 60-40 sex ratio from liberated sex dolls, despite a natural birth ratio of 105-100 favouring boys. Artificial wombs have been found to be less healthy mentally than natural ones, and there is no pressing need for the Cybran Nation to make more men, so the ratio is still heavily skewed despite the post-Seraphim War baby boom.

Having a post-scarcity society means that, like in the Aeon Illuminate, polygamy is legal in the Cybran Nation with all parties' consent. However, the historical connotations of one man with multiple women makes this type of relationship quite rare in the Cybran Nation, which abhors power imbalances and any hint of coercion. The UEF strongly frowns upon polygamy due to the most common types it had, which were harems of living sex dolls. The Federation cleaned itself up for the sake of the Coalition during the Great Slaver Purge, where the tank-born Symbionts were liberated to join the Cybran Nation with defiant owners hunted down and terminated with extreme prejudice. Almost every notable female UEF ACU pilot who wasn't on the line at that time, including General Clarke, personally took part in the Purge after footage was shown to them of some of the conditions the harems were kept in… and some of the other acts perpetrated upon slaves, such as cannibalism (a form of power-tripping).

However, given the genetic modifications to female libido during the First Great Expansion, to increase the natural growth rate of colonist populations, it is often the men who end up objecting to "let's share him/them" proposals. Equal-power polygamy among Cybrans and Aeon is never allowed (by the male or males involved) to go as horribly as the 9-to-1 ratio of early colonization efforts. where "Early Colony Crisis" actually became a euphemism for a cascade of suicides wiping out the male population because cloning up replacements would take too long to relieve them of the, ahem, workload. After all, when one has chronic fatigue and usually passes out from exhaustion instead of actually falling asleep… it's pretty damned obvious that you're just a living dildo. This is a fate that many of the male Symbionts were actually also liberated from, and the terrifying fan-girl horde is why Doctor Brackman decided to go the brain-in-a-tank approach when he got old enough to excuse it as his body just falling apart despite technology (a blatant impossibility by then). The creepy stalking and amount of fan-made porn was REALLY getting out of hand.

In other news, Ivan Brackman very much does not appreciate his father offloading most of the fans onto him. However, he does acknowledge that he wouldn't be such good friends with his old academy buddies Dominic Maddox and Thalia Kael otherwise. Mr. Maddox may or may not know he's being used as "UEF male" brand "mosquito repellent" against Cybran females, only that women in general do not generally approach the little group. Miss Kael on the other hand probably knows she's being used, but is almost certainly thankful that Ivan screens her from the fact that people in general, ah, "dislike" the Kael family these days.

Left Arm:

Tech 2 Engineering Suite: 720 Mass, 18000 Energy, 900 time units, Build Rate +20, HP +3250, HP/sec +20 (stacks with base). Allows the ACU to build Tier 2 structures on its own.

Tech 3 Engineering Suite: Stacks on Tech 2 Engineering Suite, 2400 Mass, 50000 Energy, 6000 time units, Build Rate +60 (stacks with Tech 2 suite for total +80), HP +5500 (stacks for total +8750), HP/sec +15 (stacks for total +35). Allows the ACU to build Tech 3 structures and Experimentals on its own.

Auxiliary Microwave Laser: 2000 Mass, 150000 Energy, 2000 time units Adds 1x Microwave Laser: 1000 DPS continuous beam at range 22, splash radius 0.5. The advantage is that this traverses much faster than the beam of the chest HML.

Right Arm:

Auxiliary Microwave Laser: 2000 Mass, 150000 Energy, 2000 time units. Adds 1x Microwave Laser: 1000 DPS continuous beam at range 22, splash radius 0.5. This also traverses much faster than the chest HML beam.

Kril Torpedo: 2000 Mass, 50000 Energy, 2000 time units. Adds 1x Kril Torpedo: 250 DPS, 4x250 per 4 seconds at range 80. This is much better than the Seraphim War era Nanite Torpedo Launcher modification, with 1/3 more range for 1/3 more cost, no?

Left/Right Shoulder (2 slots):

Shoulder Drone: 250 Mass, 2500 Energy, 500 time units. These Cybran drones behave like a drone deployed by the Hive Tier 2 Engineering Station, and each has 15 build rate. Unlike UEF drones, they are unable to move independently from the ACU, nor can they initiate construction, but they do have much better engineering capacity than the UEF drones, and cannot be shot down.

Nanite Torpedo Launcher: 600 Mass, 12500 Energy, 750 time units. Adds Sonar 60, 1x Nanite Torpedo, 80 DPS, 4x60 (in 0.9 seconds, 2 tubes) per 3 seconds at range 60. Visually, this can be identified as the two shoulder spikes on that side gaining one upward-pointing tube each along their tops.

Nanite Missile System: 450 Mass, 18000 Energy, 900 time units. Adds 1x Nanite Missile, 100 DPS, 4x100 (in 0.9 seconds) per 4 seconds at range 60. This is visually identical to the Nanite Torpedo Launcher.

Enhanced Sensor Suite: 800 Mass, 12800 Energy, 640 time units. Raises ACU's Omni to 72 (from 26), Vision/Water Vision to 32 (from 26). Increases direct-fire weapon range to 30 (yes, this includes the lasers).

Over-Shield Generator: 400 mass, 40000 energy, 400 time units. Adds shield radius 9, -100 energy/sec, 3600 strength, +40/sec, 30 second reset. Cybran mobile shield technology, or at least adequate models to not be nearly totally pointless, is post-Seraphim War stuff and yet to count as Standard Roster due to the different variations available (compared to UEF or Aeon mobile shields). It is grossly inferior to the other factions, but it still works after a fashion. Only recently has it been successfully refit to ACUs though. These can make the difference between surviving a strategic missile and, well, not. Please remember that the shot that punctures a shield will lose twice the shield's remaining durability points in damage potential as it continues onward, and that a wave of splash hitting it will do the same.

Back:

Resource Allocation System: Only one can be fitted. 5000 Mass, 150000 Energy, 1000 time units. Improves Economic output by +12 Mass/sec, +3500 Energy/sec.

Personal Stealth Generator: 350 Mass, 5250 Energy, 350 time units. Grants Personal Stealth (effective against radar and sonar), -50 energy/sec.

Personal Cloak Generator: Stacks with Personal Stealth Generator, 6000 Mass, 750000 Energy, 3000 time units. Adds +15000 HP, and immunity to visual identification. Only Omni sensors can spot an ACU thus concealed _even if it's a FIRIN' UP ITS LAZOR_!

Personal Teleporter: Only one can be fitted. 4500 Mass, 450000 Energy, 3000 time units. Teleportation costs 10000 energy per second for 30 seconds, and is limited to a range of 150 kilometers.

Chest:

Resource Allocation System: Only one can be fitted. 5000 Mass, 150000 Energy, 1000 time units. Improves Economic output by +12 Mass/sec, +3500 Energy/sec.

Microwave Laser: 4000 Mass, 500000 Energy, 4000 time units. Heavy Microwave Laser: 2400 DPS, continuous beam at range 22, splash radius 0.5. This is fired from an emitter on the ACU's chest. Contrary to popular belief, unlike the Seraphim War era, this is NOT the same as the HML found on the Monkeylord anymore, thanks to stealth issues with the technology and tech power creep, as per the much reduced DPS (from 4000). On the other hand, the arms…

Personal Teleporter: Only one can be fitted. 4500 Mass, 450000 Energy, 3000 time units. Teleportation costs 10000 energy per second for 30 seconds, and is limited to a range of 150 kilometers.

Shield/Field Pulse Overcharge System: 4000 Mass, 140000 Energy, 2000 time units Halves the amount of damage taken to over-shield and structural fields above 1000 per shot, from all sources besides ACU or Seraphim SCU Overcharge shots (which are dealt with by the Overcharge Negation system). This includes strategic warheads, so the Cybran ACU can, like the UEF one, withstand one Tier 3 silo's warhead when upgraded appropriately.

* * *

 **Aeon Illuminate ACU** : LWH 11/21-21-37, 11000 HP (+10/sec)

Quantum Disruptor: 200 DPS, 100 per 0.5 second at range 1-22

Overcharge Cannon: 12000 per 4 seconds max at range 22, splash radius 2

Meltdown: (Approximate, as with all strategic-sized weapons) 3500 damage in range 30, dropping to 500 by range 35, 0 by range 40.

Modification Mounts: Left Arm, Right Arm, Left Shoulder, Right Shoulder, Back, Chest

Unlike the UEF ACU which focuses on durability and Cybran ACU which focuses on terminating its way out of trouble, the Aeon ACU stays truer to the original purpose of the ACU, which was, and still is, to WAY-DAMNIT BUILD THINGS! Oh, and stay alive while doing so, yeah, that's important too. Technical limitations means the base model is equivalent to the UEF and Cybran ACUs, but you can guess where the modification list is going…

Left Arm:

Tech 2 Engineering Suite: 720 Mass, 18000 Energy, 900 time units, Build Rate +20, HP +3000, HP/sec +20 (stacks on base +10). Allows the ACU to build Tier 2 structures on its own. Please note that Tech 2 units will have their time cost reduced by 10% when built by the ACU if the Auxiliary Tech 2 Engineering Suite is also installed.

Tech 3 Engineering Suite: Stacks on Tech 2 Engineering Suite, 2400 Mass, 50000 Energy, 6000 time units, Build Rate +60 (stacks with Tech 2 suite for total +80 over base plus whatever others there are), HP +5000 (stacks for total +8000), HP/sec +15 (stacks for total +35 on top of base +10). Allows the ACU to build Tech 3 structures and Experimentals on its own.

Avalanche Engineering Booster: Stacks on Tech 3 Engineering Suite, 3000 Mass, 60000 Energy, 6000 time units, Build Rate +40 (stacks with previous suites for +120 from this arm alone), HP + 3000 (stacks for total +11000), HP/sec +10 (stacks for +45 on base +10).

Secondary Quantum Disruptor: 300 Mass, 9000 Energy, 300 time units. Adds another Quantum Disruptor to the ACU, useful when you really need to blast your way out, otherwise… not so much.

Right Arm:

Quantum Disruptor Enhancement: 500 Mass, 15000 Energy, 500 time units. 1.5x rate of fire (to 3 per second) and 1.5x alpha (to 150) of _all_ onboard Quantum Disruptors

Auxiliary Tech 2 Engineering Suite: 720 Mass, 18000 Energy, 900 time units, Build Rate +15, HP +2000, HP/sec +10 (stacks on whatever else you have). Allows the ACU to build Tier 2 structures on its own if you haven't fitted this to the left arm yet. Please note that if you have both arms fitted with this, well, there's a reason this right arm version is AUXILIARY, because it's less effective, and less cost-effective, than the left arm version. Blame the Quantum Disruptor for that. However, it IS possible to put the Tech 3 Engineering Suite on the left arm while having the Tech 2 only on the right, if you decide to do that for whatever reason.

Enhanced Sensor System: 750 Mass, 12500 Energy, 625 time units. Raises ACU's Omni to 72 (from 26), Vision/Water Vision to 32 (from 26). Increases base weapon range to 30.

Chrono Dampener: 750 Mass, 37500 Energy, 625 time units. Adds Chrono Dampener: Stuns all enemy units within range 10 for 3 seconds, once per 5 seconds. This device is the main reason why the Heavy Microwave Laser of the Monkeylord was revised to have no charging time.

Left/Right Shoulder:

Engineering Beam Turret: 400 Mass, 10000 Energy, 400 time units, Build Rate +20, HP +1000, HP regen +5. The lack of other benefits, other than automatically repairing nearby units and structures, means this is an average at best investment before you get Tech 2 Engineering Suite fitted. However, this also means that the Aeon ACU is the best builder by far of the four ACUs. Sure, it's more expensive than two Engineers, but the ACU is a sturdy thing and lumping build power into a single unit means more units can cram into close enough range to all help build something…

Torpedo Turret: 600 Mass, 12500 Energy, 750 time units. Adds Sonar 60, 1x (Twin Turret) Chrono Torpedo, 75 DPS, 4x75 (in 1.2 seconds) per 4 seconds at range 60. A second turret is 10% cheaper as it does not add sonar.

Flak Turret: 450 Mass, 13500 Energy, 900 time units. Adds Temporal Fizz Launcher: 144 DPS, 72 per 0.5 seconds at range 40, splash radius 4. Yes, we know, not economical, still, if one can't afford shields on one's energy income, Ascendants aren't nearly tough enough unless in truly massed numbers…

Over-Shield Generator: 450 Mass, 45000 Energy, 450 time units. Adds Shield Radius 8, -125 energy/sec, strength 5000, +60/sec, 30 sec reset. The Aeon Illuminate would have to be stupid to not recognize the sheer utility of having Ascendants tailing their ACU instead of bothering with installing a flak turret. However, they do admit sometimes there isn't enough time to get Ascendants up in enough numbers to matter at the same time as making the horribly expensive transition from Tier 1 Energy income to Tier 2 and then putting up a Shield of Light, hence the option still exists.

Back/Chest:

Resource Allocation System: 5000 Mass, 150000 Energy, 1000 time units. Adds +18 Mass/sec, +2700 Energy/sec.

Advanced Resource Allocation System: Stacks with Resource Allocation System, 5000 Mass, 150000 Energy, 1000 time units. Adds another +18 Mass/sec (total +37 mass income from ACU) and +2700 Energy/sec (total +5410 energy income from ACU).

Personal Shield: 1500 Mass, 93750 Energy, 1250 time units. Adds Surface Shield with 29000 strength, +60/sec, 140 second reset, -250 Energy/sec.

Heavy Personal Shield: Stacks on Personal Shield, 4500 Mass, 1000000 Energy, 2500 time units. Surface shield boosted to 44000 strength, +150/sec, 110 second reset, -500 Energy/sec.

Personal Teleporter: Only one can be fitted. 4500 Mass, 450000 Energy, 3000 time units. Teleportation costs 10000 energy per second for 30 seconds, and is limited to a range of 150 kilometers.

* * *

 **Seraphim Republics ACU** : LWH 19/34-28-52, 11500 HP (+10/sec)

Chronotron Cannon: 200 DPS, 100 per 0.5 second at range 2-22

Overcharge Cannon: 12000 per 4 seconds max at range 22, splash radius 2

Meltdown: (Approximate, as with all strategic-sized weapons) 3500 damage in range 30, dropping to 500 by range 35, 0 by range 40.

Modification Mounts: Left Arm, Right Arm, Left Shoulder Pylon, Right Shoulder Pylon, Legs, Back

The Seraphim ACU is noticed to not fold its pylons upward during transport, hence it is long front-to-back even with its arms held down at its sides. It is also the only ACU where the minimum range actually matters, as the gun is simply so long that it cannot shoot targets hugging its legs effectively.

The Imperium (technically a part-psionic part-electronic direct democracy, the name is an inside joke) uses functionally the same design.

Left Arm:

Tech 2 Engineering Suite: 720 Mass, 18000 Energy, 900 time units, Build Rate +20, HP +3000, HP/sec +20 (stacks on base +10). Allows the ACU to build Tier 2 structures on its own. Please note that Tech 2 units will have their time cost reduced by

Tech 3 Engineering Suite: Stacks on Tech 2 Engineering Suite, 2400 Mass, 50000 Energy, 6000 time units, Build Rate +60 (stacks with Tech 2 suite for total +80 over base plus whatever others there are), HP +5000 (stacks for total +8000), HP/sec +15 (stacks for total +35 on top of base +10). Allows the ACU to build Tech 3 structures and Experimentals on its own.

Refracting Chronotron Amplifier: 3000 Mass, 200000 Energy, 2000 time units. Increases Chronotron Cannon per-shot damage by 300 (effectively quadrupling DPS)

Right Arm:

Twin Chronotron Cannon: May be stacked with Chronotron Accelerator. 1000 Mass, 30000 Energy, 1000 time units. Doubles rate of fire of Chronotron Cannon.

Chronotron Accelerator: May be stacked with Twin Chronotron Cannon. 400 Mass, 10000 Energy, 400 time units. Extends range of Chronotron Cannon system to 30.

Left/Right Shoulder Pylon:

Resource Allocation System: You can build two if you don't mind using both shoulder pylons for that. 5000 Mass, 150000 Energy, 1000 time units. Adds +16 Mass and +3000 Energy each.

Nano-Repair System: Required for Enhanced Nano-Repair on Back, but you can only have one of these on a shoulder pylon. 2000 Mass, 90000 Energy, 2000 time units, +6000 HP, +75 HP/sec.

Restoration Field: Required for Rapid Restoration Field. 3000 Mass, 120000 Energy, 3000 time units. Within radius 15, bonus HP regeneration of 0.5% per second to all friendly units, up to a maximum total recharge of +100 HP/sec. Boosting structural field recharge from anywhere but inside it is limited. Anything that has its own healing that goes beyond this is not affected whatsoever.

Legs:

Torpedo Tubes: 1200 Mass, 30000 Energy, 1500 time units. Adds Sonar 60, (Trio) Uall Cavitation Torpedo, 135 DPS, 4x135 (in 1.2 seconds) per 4 seconds at range 60. These are attached to the outsides of the last leg segment, so no penis jokes please (the prototype version on the other hand…).

Mobility Improvement: 1200 Mass, 60000 Energy, 1500 time units. Increases ACU speed from 1.7 (34m/s) to 2.2 (44m/s), fast enough to outrun Armoured Assault Bots and Fatboys… and keep up with SCUs, Hallelujah!

Back:

Tactical Missile Launcher: 1000 Mass, 50000 Energy, 1000 time units. Adds Laanse Tactical Missile, 6000 at range 5-256, splash radius 3. Cost per missile is 200 Mass, 4000 Energy, 2500 time units. Default own engineering rate (when ACU is building other things) 80/sec, but the ACU directs its engineering systems inward to this device with full efficiency whenever the ACU is idle, so it can potentially fire much faster than an installation. This can be fired from underwater. Only one missile can be stored at any given time though. The increased cost per missile compared to the UEF model stems from having better splash radius.

Personal Teleporter: 4500 Mass, 450000 Energy, 3000 time units. Teleportation costs 10000 energy per second for 30 seconds, and is limited to a range of 150 kilometers.

Enhanced Nano-Repair System: Requires Nano-Repair System on a shoulder pylon. 4500 Mass, 450000 Energy, 3000 time units. Adds +14000 HP, +75 HP/sec, stacking with the Nano-Repair System.

Rapid Restoration Field: Requires Restoration Field on a shoulder pylon. 4500 Mass, 450000 Energy, 4500 time units. Boosts units within radius 25 by 10% HP, and 1% base HP in regeneration, up to maximum total regen of 200/sec.

* * *

 **Support Command Unit**

All (base forms): 44 m/s, Engineering 60/sec, Vision 26, Water Vision 26, Omni 16, 36000 time units (used for reference during repairs).

Economic: Stores 275 Mass, 5000 Energy

Unlike in video games, Support Commanders have to be authorized by HQ, to the point where most pilots don't bother building a groundside Quantum Gate on most missions until the third hour! The SCUs also obviously don't get built by the Gate and arrive with the base form kit, due to mass limitations on single gating events. They provide 500 extra unit cap while taking up 1 unit's worth of control.

The lack of use of the Gates for transporting armies around the battlefield is due to how long it takes for a Gate to calm the local Quantum Wake in terms of transporting units through it to another groundside gate. This is unlike evacuating civilians to other worlds, relayed through the orbital gates which help disperse the Wake. Also, the standard groundside Gates only allows transport of non-Experimental land or air units, which means it is of limited utility in many battles. The mass limit for a single gating event, except units fitted with as much extremely mass/energy-intensive tech as an ACU, is presently about 10000 mass or 20000 tons, with fluctuations depending on local conditions, gate online timespan, gate lock-on time, etc. Only ACUs can gate safely without a receiving gate, hence why repairing one's ACU with an external engineer is incredibly bad for one's energy economy (as previously mentioned, 5 million energy over 60000 build time units is insane for external repairs until you are well into Tier 3).

Please remember Length, Width, Height stats are shown with two lengths, one for arms pointed toward ground and another for held horizontal.

Oh, and games that claim these are called Support Armoured Command Units… shame on you.

* * *

 **United Earth Federation SCU**

19200 tons, LWH 12/26-17-34, 32000 HP (+25/sec)

Economic: +2 Mass/sec, +200 Energy/sec

Plasma Cannon: 150 DPS, 100 per 2/3 second at range 1-25

Meltdown: (Approx.) 1000 damage to radius 10, tapering to 0 by radius 20

Upgrade Slots: Left Arm, Right Arm, Left/Right Shoulder, Back

It may be a surprise that the UEF SCU isn't the toughest straight out of the box, while being the most expensive. However, it has by far the toughest shield dome of all standard roster Coalition land units.

This SCU would take 114000 Energy in theory to repair from 0 HP.

Left Arm:

Engineering Accelerator: 2100 Mass, 75000 Energy, 9000 time units, Build Rate +30, HP/sec +15 (stacks for total +35). Yes, adding additional engineering capacity right next to existing capacity without interfering with said existing capacity does take up that goddamned much mass.

Weapons Accelerator: 1000 Mass, 45000 Energy, 5000 time units. Doubles rate of fire of all onboard weapons except the Zephyr Cannon (if fitted). This is a big deal when the shoulder turrets are fitted! The ACU doesn't have this option as its weapons systems are less concentrated, it has more mass and volume for other stuff, and it wouldn't work on the Zephyr anyhow.

Enhanced Sensor System: 1000 Mass, 20000 Energy, 5000 time units. Increases Vision to 30 and Omni to 72.

Right Arm:

Zephyr Cannon: May be fitted together with Heavy Plasma Refractor. 2000 Mass, 40000 Energy, 6400 time units. Adds 1x Zephyr Anti Matter Cannon, 700 DPS, 700 per 1 second at range 30, splash radius 2. Visually, it is mounted under the Plasma Cannon. It is more expensive than the ACU version due to having to add more stuff to make it work properly.

Plasma Refractor: May be fitted together with Zephyr Cannon. 1000 Mass, 40000 Energy, 4000 time units. Improves Plasma Cannon range to 30 and gives it a damage radius of 2.5.

Resource Allocation System: 2500 Mass, 30000 Energy, 6000 time units. Adds +10 Mass/sec, +900 Energy/sec (total +12 Mass/sec, +1100 Energy/sec)

Left/Right Shoulder (1 each): The same as the ACU's options… though for an SCU's engineering suite they are absurdly fast, despite costing twice as many time units due to SCUs having to shift internal systems to make way, while ACUs have the slots ready to use.

Shoulder Drone: 100 Mass, 2000 Energy, 500 time units. Adds a Shoulder Drone, which can be commanded separately with a build rate of 5 and a flying speed of 4, essentially a flying Tier 1 Engineer. It is very tactically useful in building walls continuously and assisting in tasks where crowding in engineers on the ground is inconvenient.

Torpedo Turret: 600 Mass, 12500 Energy, 1500 time units. Adds Sonar 60, 1x (Twin Turret) Angler Torpedo, 75 DPS, 4x75 (in 1.2 seconds) per 4 seconds at range 60.

Flak Turret: 250 Mass, 7500 Energy, 1000 time units. 1x (Single) Fragmentation Flak: 72 DPS, 36 per 0.5 seconds at range 40, splash radius 4.

SAM Turret: 250 Mass, 7500 Energy, 1000 time units. 1x Flayer Missile Launcher: 60 DPS, 6x20 per 2 seconds at range 50.

Over-Shield Generator: 400 Mass, 40000 Energy, 800 time units. Adds Shield Radius 10, -120 energy/sec, strength 4000, +50/sec, 25 sec reset.

Back:

Personal Shield Generator: 2000 Mass, 100000 Energy, 7500 time units. Adds Surface Shield, -400 energy/sec, 32000 power, +50/sec, 160 sec reset.

Bubble Shield Generator: 5000 Mass, 400000 Energy, 10000 time units. Adds Shield Radius 10, -800 energy/sec, 52000 Strength, +150/sec, 210 sec reset. It's cheaper to make a shield of a particular strength when it's not attached to everything from Overcharge Negation to Quantum Wake Stabilizers and so on as is the case on an ACU… but the underlying structural field strength presents issues with this idea, not to mention the sheer strength means the emitter is hideously expensive…

Radar Jammer: 1000 Mass, 37500 Energy, 5000 time units. Jamming costs -100 Energy/sec.

* * *

 **Cybran Nation SCU**

18000 tons, LWH 11/21-20-32, 38000 HP (+25/sec)

Economic: +2 Mass/sec, +175 Energy/sec

Disintegrator Pulse Laser: 160 DPS, 120 per 0.75 second at range 1-25.

Meltdown: (Approx.) 1000 damage to radius 10, tapering to 0 by radius 20

Upgrade Slots: Left Arm, Right Arm, Left/Right Shoulder, Back

The Cybran SCU is one of only two standard roster units (the other being the Cybran ACU) capable of moving and fighting while cloaked AND stealthed, which allows it to wander onto a battlefield and reclaim wreckage out from under everyone's noses.

Left Arm:

Engineering Accelerator: 2100 Mass, 75000 Energy, 9000 time units, Build Rate +30, HP/sec +15. Yes, adding additional engineering capacity right next to existing capacity without interfering with said existing capacity does take up that goddamned much mass.

EMP Blaster: 2250 Mass, 90000 Energy, 9000 time units. Adds EMP Weapon, 1 shot per second, stuns target for (5 minus tier number) seconds. Effective against anything that is not another Command Unit, though can only permanently stun a single Experimental unit. This is extremely powerful when coupled with the Disintegrator Amplifier.

Right Arm:

Disintegrator Amplifier: 1000 Mass, 45000 Energy, 5000 time units. +240 damage per shot, raising DPS to 480.

Resource Allocation System: 2500 Mass, 30000 Energy, 6000 time units. Adds +10 Mass/sec, +900 Energy/sec.

Left/Right Shoulder (2 slots):

Shoulder Drone: 250 Mass, 2500 Energy, 1000 time units. These Cybran drones behave like a drone deployed by the Hive Tier 2 Engineering Station, and each has 15 build rate. Unlike UEF drones, they are unable to move independently, nor can they initiate construction, but they do have much better engineering capacity than the UEF drones, and cannot be shot down without being regenerated effectively instantly (UEF drones cost a lot of mass to replace, because they store black-boxed-to-hell-and-back schematics).

Nanite Torpedo Launcher: 600 Mass, 12500 Energy, 1500 time units. Adds Sonar 60, 1x Nanite Torpedo, 80 DPS, 4x60 (in 0.9 seconds, 2 tubes) per 3 seconds at range 60. Visually, this is a torpedo turret sticking out form a shoulder pauldron.

Nanite Missile System: 450 Mass, 18000 Energy, 1800 time units. Adds 1x Nanite Missile, 100 DPS, 4x100 (in 0.9 seconds) per 4 seconds at range 60. This is visually identical to the Nanite Torpedo Launcher.

Over-Shield Generator: 400 mass, 40000 energy, 800 time units. Adds shield radius 9, -100 energy/sec, 3600 strength, +40/sec, 30 second reset. Please remember that the shot that punctures a shield will lose twice the shield's remaining durability points in damage potential as it continues onward, and that a wave of splash hitting it will do the same. For surface shields it's usually a power loss of 1.5x the remaining shield power, except with ammunition that bursts/explodes on impact. Please also remember the Cybrans DO have other mobile shields available now.

Back:

Nano-Repair System: 2250 Mass, 112500 Energy, 9000 time units. Adds +5000 HP, +400 HP/sec. Yes, this is technically a booster as passive nano-repair is a thing, but that hardly matters in naming scheme…

Personal Stealth Generator: 3000 Mass, 112500 Energy, 9000 time units. Grants Personal Stealth (effective against radar and sonar), -500 energy/sec. Due to the less sophisticated (lighter) systems of an SCU compared to an ACU, this is expensive…

Personal Cloak Generator: Stacks with Personal Stealth Generator, 9000 Mass, 1200000 Energy, 18000 time units. Adds +15000 HP, immunity to visual identification, and -6000 Energy/sec. This is again more costly than for an ACU due to less sophisticated systems.

Anti-Gravity "Jetpack": 4500 Mass, 80000 Energy, 6000 time units. Allows the SCU to fly at speed 8 with "fuel capacity" of 2:00. The Cybran Nation often operates in pretty jagged environments, so when you need to jump across a chasm or up a cliff without conducting landscaping and giving away your position, who wants to bother waiting for half a minute (and costing a load of energy) like the Aeon? Sure, this won't be out-flying anything soon, but it can work as a slow, extra-heavy gunship in a sense… even though it can't both fly with no remaining fuel AND build something, it's still a very valuable ability.

* * *

 **Aeon Illuminate SCU**

17400 tons, LWH 9/30-23-30, 30000 HP (+20/sec)

Economic: +3 Mass/sec, +300 Energy/sec

Reacton Cannon: 200 DPS, 200 per 1 second at range 1-30

Meltdown: (Approx.) 1000 damage to radius 10, tapering to 0 by radius 20

Upgrade Slots: Left Arm, Right Arm, Left/Right Shoulder, Back, Chest

Thanks to the way the Aeon SCU is built, it can mount an add-on module on the chest as well as on the back. While it lacks the Cybran flexibility in terms of teleport versus hovering, the UEF ability to quickly throw up firebases while under heavy fire, or the raw Seraphim combative potential, the Aeon SCU has its own strengths.

Left Arm:

Engineering Accelerator: 2100 Mass, 75000 Energy, 9000 time units, Build Rate +30, HP/sec +15.

Secondary Reacton Cannon: 1500 Mass, 45000 Energy, 6000 time units. Adds a Secondary Reacton Cannon, 150 DPS, 150 per 1 second at range 1-30

Right Arm:

Reacton Refractor: 1000 Mass, 100000 Energy, 5000 time units. Gives all Reacton Cannons a splash radius of 4.

Resource Allocation System: 2500 Mass, 30000 Energy, 6000 time units. Adds +11 Mass/sec, +900 Energy/sec. This is more efficient than the other factions have it.

Left/Right Shoulder:

Engineering Beam Turret: 1500 Mass, 90000 Energy, 1500 time units, Build Rate +20, HP +1000, HP regen +5. Sadly, the SCU's high HP means it is harder to engineer with direct engineering upgrades (as opposed to drones) than the ACU, hence this same level of upgrade is vastly more expensive for the SCU to equip. On the other hand, it's affordable by the time you can call in an SCU…

Torpedo Turret: 600 Mass, 12500 Energy, 1500 time units. Adds Sonar 60, 1x (Twin Turret) Chrono Torpedo, 75 DPS, 4x75 (in 1.2 seconds) per 4 seconds at range 60. A second turret is 10% cheaper as it does not add sonar.

Flak Turret: 450 Mass, 13500 Energy, 1800 time units. Adds Temporal Fizz Launcher: 144 DPS, 72 per 0.5 seconds at range 40, splash radius 4. Yes, we know, not economical, still, if one can't afford shields on one's energy income, Ascendants aren't nearly tough enough unless in truly massed numbers…

Over-Shield Generator: 500 Mass, 50000 Energy, 1000 time units. Adds Shield Radius 8, -150 energy/sec, strength 5000, +60/sec, 30 sec reset. The underlying structural field is strong enough that it costs a bit more energy than it otherwise would…

Back/Chest:

Nano-Repair System: 1800 Mass, 90000 Energy, 9000 time units. Adds +300 HP/sec.

Personal Shield: 1500 Mass, 93750 Energy, 7500 time units. Adds Surface Shield with 20000 strength, +50/sec, 120 second reset, -300 Energy/sec. The stronger the structural field, the more a shield, particularly a particularly dense shield (such as a powerful surface shield), tends to cost in construction and upkeep. This of course excludes cases where the emitter's structural field is distinct from the underlying hull's, but that raises the problem of destruction by parts…

Heavy Personal Shield: Stacks on Personal Shield, 2250 Mass, 135000 Energy, 9000 time units. Surface shield boosted to 35000 strength, +120/sec, 160 second reset, -600 Energy/sec.

Personal Teleporter: 15000 Mass, 1500000 Energy, 18000 time units. Teleportation costs 10000 energy per second for 30 seconds, and is limited to a range of 150 kilometers. Due to the lack of such systems as found on ACUs, this upgrade is enormously expensive, and can only be mounted on the back of the SCU.

* * *

 **Seraphim Republics SCU**

18600 tons, 10/32-17-36, 31000 HP (+20/sec)

Economic: +5 Mass/sec, +500 Energy/sec

Light Chronotron Cannon: 150 DPS, 75 per 0.5 seconds at range 1-25

Meltdown: (Approx.) 1000 damage to radius 10, tapering to 0 by radius 20

Upgrade Slots: Left Arm, Right Arm, Chest, Back, Legs

While the Seraphim SCU is, to say the least, lacklustre in its initial gate-transit form, and its arms are lacking in terms of flexibility compared to the human options (and it doesn't have shoulders), it IS the only SCU to get a walking speed upgrade. It is also the best SCU at straight-up fighting once decked out.

Left Arm:

Engineering Accelerator: 2100 Mass, 75000 Energy, 9000 time units. Adds Build Rate +30, HP/sec +15.

Refracting Chronotron Amplifier: 2000 Mass, 200000 Energy, 4000 time units. Increases Light Chronotron Cannon per-shot damage by 150 (effectively tripling base DPS).

Over-Shield Generator: 1200 Mass, 36000 Energy, 3000 time units. Adds Shield Radius 10, 10000 strength, +90/sec, 60 second reset. Sure, it's twice the cost of an Athanah for a strictly worse (in regen and reset time) shield, but given how tough the SCU is…

Right Arm:

Overcharge System: 4000 Mass, 400000 Energy, 16000 time units. Adds Light Chronotron Overcharge, provided energy supply is adequate, Up to 7000 damage per 5 seconds at range 25, splash radius 2. If you have no problem with costing a lot of energy, or with overkill issues, this is effectively +1400 DPS. The splash damage allows this to not only overwhelm a baseline Harbinger Mk IV's shield, but also destroy it in a single shot. It will also kill a baseline Othuum in one hit. This is effective against everything but ACUs (due to Overcharge Negation), so a Seraphim SCU having the misfortune to confront a decked-out Cybran ACU is beyond strongly advised to enable to legendary power known only as GTFO. The sheer utility of this module is why the Seraphim SCU only has one upgrade option for the right arm, despite video game lies about the teleporter going here (which would be horrible for structural balancing).

Legs:

Torpedo Tubes: 1200 Mass, 30000 Energy, 3000 time units. Adds Sonar 60, (Trio) Uall Cavitation Torpedo, 135 DPS, 4x135 (in 1.2 seconds) per 4 seconds at range 60. These are attached to the outsides of the last leg segment, so no penis jokes please (the prototype version on the other hand…).

Mobility Improvement: 1200 Mass, 60000 Energy, 3000 time units. Increases SCU speed from 2.2 (44m/s) to 2.7, fast enough to outrun a few of the slower land units, joy…

Back:

Tactical Missile Launcher: 1000 Mass, 50000 Energy, 6000 time units. Adds Laanse Tactical Missile, 6000 at range 5-256, splash radius 3. Cost per missile is 200 Mass, 4000 Energy, 2500 time units. The default internal engineering speed, due to the SCU not being as designed for upgrading as the ACU, is only +10/sec, but the engineering suites can be directed internally with full efficiency for this purpose…

Personal Teleporter: 15000 Mass, 1500000 Energy, 18000 time units. Teleportation costs 10000 energy per second for 30 seconds, and is limited to a range of 150 kilometers. Due to usually lacking the ACU's quantum wake stabilization systems, this upgrade is ludicrously expensive… and is mostly stealth systems to mask the jump signature like other teleporters, go figure…

Chest/Back:

Personal Shield Generator: 1500 Mass, 140625 Energy, 7500 time units. Adds Personal Shield, 25000 strength, +40/sec, 130 second reset, -300 Energy/sec.

Enhanced Sensor System: 1000 Mass, 20000 Energy, 5000 time units. Increases Vision to 40 and Omni to 72.

Nano-Repair System: 3500 Mass, 140000 Energy, 13500 time units. Adds HP +14000, HP/sec +250.

* * *

 **REMINDER:** Primitive civilizations we contact would probably collectively laugh at us if they knew the ranges our war machines fought at, less than the range on primitive gunpowder cannon. Such is the price of passive stealth, various active defence systems, etc. For primitives, broken stealth means really broken stealth. For us, even when detected, weapons fire range is limited due to the sheer amount of ECM floating around. Dumb-fire ammunition without its own ECM systems are too easy to intercept with active defence systems for lower reactor output cost, even if it only results in deflection and ECM-equipped rounds have to analyze their environment and thus are vulnerable to enemy ECM… you get the point.

We can have a **55000-ton, 200-meter walker stomping around at 50 meters a second be completely indistinguishable on sensors from a tiny hovering land scout** , while being good enough in sensors to sense **THROUGH the horizon a 1m tall cactus fall over from 80 kilometers away**. Oh, and you can't fire a goddamned **laser from one of those walkers for even a kilometer** without someone tracing back the energy **despite the weapons stealth systems that make everyone else** —who can also see a tiny cactus fall over from through the horizon— **not normally able to see/trace your laser beam's effect on the atmosphere if it fires outside their units "visual range"** … Stealth was practically the lifeblood of ACU warfare by the later phases of the Infinite War… though it wasn't the case back at the beginning.

This is why our aerospace craft have to go sub-orbital to actually move fast. Near the ground on a typical, common super-Earth planet, they're less than Mach 2, due to the stealth systems required to hide supersonic passage simply demanding too much energy to work at any higher speeds.

* * *

 **A/N: I REALLY don't believe in gameplay and story segregation.**

COMMENTS AND UNIT REQUESTS/SUGGESTIONS WELCOME!


	6. Rebuilding Civilization

**A/N:** This is what will be used in a number of crossovers as build-up. Yeah, it's not very long, because SupCom is NOT a dramatic series, it's in the no-man's-land of fandom power, where almost all are below it and get stomped, and the few that are above it are ludicrously far above.

* * *

 **Codex Entry 5: Rebuilding Civilization**

Rebuilding their civilization is a capacity every ACU pilot has. Why else do you think ACU meltdowns exist? In addition to destroying the ACU's onboard databanks, it also vaporizes the stored information implants in each pilot. However, pilots' bodies do not self-destruct on death, only their schematics storages get flushed, since resuscitation/reconstitution is much easier and less psychologically damaging than cloning up a new body.

In addition to the standard unit rosters, ACU pilots and their machines also contain schematics for four other tiers, generally known as Tier -3 to Tier 0. These are greatly inferior in scale and ability to Tier 1 units and structures, and are intended to allow for quick recovery of civilization to a level where a colony can be established using mix-and-match among stored DNA patterns. While Nanolathes are grossly ineffective at creating actually functional biological tissue at larger scales—hence why nanolathed food usually looks and tastes overly processed, ranging from nutrient paste to homogenized nondescript meat, cheese, etc. products—they ARE currently capable of producing primed zygotes which can then be incubated in what are referred to as "iron wombs". Time acceleration to birth can be used if conditions permit (e.g. no worries about other comparable sensor tech bases potentially attacking) but is generally not recommended.

Please note that these units can be assembled anywhere from being anchored underwater to floating to dry land, or even in space if need be.

Bear in mind that a Tier 1 Engineer costs 52 Mass, 260 Energy, 260 Time Units, stores 50 Energy and 10 Mass onboard, and has a build rate of 5/sec. Their dimensions are also only marginally over 10-10-10 in Length, Width and Height, with the Seraphim being longer, but all the non-Aeon ones being betrayed in terms of height by their construction arms or drone control obelisks. In other words, they are about the size of an average-sized three-storey stand-alone house (not that such housing is common…)

The general guidelines for the units are that Tier -3 is handheld gear, Tier -2 is about a big backpack, Tier -1 is the size of two or three people put together, and Tier 0 is about the size of a small car (for a small family with only 6-7 members), and is where Passive Stealth and Active Camo show up for the first time. All engineering units in these tiers are able to build their own tier and one tier above that.

Given the weakest weapons normally available are 200mm guns that do 2 damage per hit, and 375mm Tomcat Machineguns on the Mech Marine do 7 damage a shot… the DPS of infantry weapons is negligible at best in ACU warfare. You only ever see any infantry-scale stuff be built when you need to move unconscious people or equipment out of a structure without damaging it, and it is generally done by the capturing engineers in the field. The reduced build speed from transmitting schematics instead of having them onboard is negligible considering the scaling.

Please also remember that Tier 1 Mass Extractors give +2 Mass/sec, -2 Energy/sec, and Power Generators give +20 Energy/sec. The Tier 1 Power Generator takes up a 40m by 40m plot of land, but leaves space around the edges for units to manoeuvre, so it's really "only" something around 20m by 20m in base area.

* * *

 **ACU Pilot** : All ACU pilots have some stats of their own…

Engineering (via any combination of Psionics and nanites): 0.00001/sec

When Psionics or nanites are directed to do so, an ACU pilot can generate (not at the same time as engineering is being used) +0.000005 Mass/sec (10 grams/sec) and +0.0001 Energy/sec. They can store 0.002 Mass (4 kilograms) and 0.005 Energy in their bodies.

Partial reclamation of nearby objects such as trees or rocks until reserves are full is well beyond strongly advised. Destruction of excess mass/energy obtained is not available on a large scale (denial of resources to the enemy) as an option until Tier 3 is available (and it'll be toggled as needed) or until an ACU is available (still presented as an optional setting), so the reclamation will automatically stop once both Mass and Energy reserves are full.

* * *

 **Tier -3 Pistol** : UEF Gauss Pistol, Cybran Laser Pistol, Aeon Pulse Pistol, Seraphim Phasic Pistol

Since at this tier, Passive Stealth and Active Camouflage aren't feasible, these weapons universally have very high muzzle velocity and poor stealth profiles by Coalition standards. They are only effective against targets without structural integrity fields.

Cost: 0.0005 Mass (1 kg), 0.0020 Energy, 0.0025 time units.

Reloading costs 40% of building a new one from no charge to full charge

DPS: 0.005, 0.001 per 0.2 seconds at line of sight

 **UEF Gauss Pistol** : Fires a tiny hypervelocity frangible dart, basically a compact, handheld coil-gun. This weapon will not need to be reloaded for 200 shots (each dart is 2 grams).

Soft targets being hit by this tend to have a big hole blown out the other side from the transfer of concussive force from this thing forcing its way through. The ammunition is also designed to fragment after striking a target with standard sub-dermal skin weave as post-Quantum Age humans have, to maximize the amount of damage inflicted as it tears through, as it is just too fast for hydrostatic shock to actually transfer as much energy as is preferable.

 **Cybran Laser Pistol** : IMMA FIRIN' UP MAH LAZOR!

…Ouch, ouch, stop hitting me for using ancient memes! You know that archaeology is often centered on ancient graffiti, right? Might as well denote civilization continuity! Hey… put that down… please? *muffled sounds of a beating*

…AHEM, back to work…

Soft targets hit by this tend to explode messily with lots of steam. On the other hand, dialing this down can allow it to be used to cook food, as per typical Cybran flexibility… This weapon is good for 400 full power shots.

 **Aeon Pulse Pistol** : Uses Sonic Pulse munitions, so standing near a soft target being hit by this thing is… unsanitary, or unhealthy if you are unprotected. The primary target tends to have at least a few organs tearing themselves apart… This is good for 100 shots, but has some splash damage characteristics against soft targets, which include all wildlife without very thick carapaces.

 **Seraphim Phasic Pistol** : Fires an explosive munition partially out of phase from normal space, so when it hits anything that's not a structural field, it phases back in partly within the target, AND explodes. The composition of the round on the other hand means, like the others, you can still eat whatever you shot afterward… if there's enough left to eat depending on your power setting. So this is, like the other pistols, a potential hunting tool. This weapon is good for 150 shots, but lacks the Aeon splash damage effect to nearly as high a degree, and is prone to overkill.

* * *

 **Tier -3 Hand Grenade** : UEF Fragmentation Hand Grenade, Cybran Proton Hand Grenade, Aeon Concussion Hand Grenade, and Seraphim Spectra Hand Grenade.

Cost: 0.00025 Mass (500g), 0.0010 Energy, 0.00125 time units

0.005 damage per grenade, splash radius 0.05 grids (1 meter) vs structural fields.

These things explode three seconds after they are thrown (can be dialled down or up as needed), and will not explode if in close proximity to the thrower. This is not complicated. Hand grenades exist in the current infantry arsenal only to be bounced around corners, pretty much.

* * *

 **Tier -3 Handheld Assembler** : Other than being in the Seraphim language for their version, this has no special names.

Cost: 0.0005 Mass (1kg), 0.0020 Energy, 0.0025 time units

Engineering 0.0001 per second

An engineering rate of 0.0001 per second is pretty decent compared to an ACU pilot's innate engineering capacity (be it psionic, nanite-based, or both) of 0.00001 per second.

The only weapons this can build are a blade—of equal mass cost to the pistol but a quarter the energy and time costs—or a pistol or a grenade. Its main purpose is to ensure short term survival and put up a basic hostile environment suit, get some resource generators, make more of itself, then make a Tier -2 Backpack Assembler.

* * *

 **Tier -3 Hostile Environment Suit** :

Cost: 0.002 Mass (4 kg), 0.0080 Energy, 0.0080 time units.

To protect against biological, chemical, or radiological contaminants.

* * *

 **Tier -3 Portable Resource Generator** :

Cost: 0.001 Mass (2kg), 0.0040 Energy, 0.0040 time units

Economic: +0.000005 Mass/sec (10 grams) and +0.0001 Energy/sec, Stores 0.0005 Mass and 0.005 Energy.

This takes 40 seconds to put together with a Tier -3 Assembler, but provides the maximum output possible from an ACU pilot themselves, without nearly as much mental or physical stress. Resource production of a particular type will automatically turn off when that type reaches the storage cap.

This can easily be clipped onto the belt of any suit, or even strapped to one's arm if so desired, or set on the ground. Please be advised that the mass of this will increase as it stores more material. Please do not allow this to affect one's balance!

* * *

 **Tier -2 Backpack Assembler**

Cost: 0.02 Mass (40kg), 0.08 Energy, 0.1 time units

Engineering 0.005/sec

This can put together the standard Laser Battle Rifle, Plasma Rifle, and assorted other typical Coalition infantry weapons. However, those are just about completely irrelevant in a collapse of civilization scenario, so are not listed in this codex entry.

This can build a Tier -1 Assembler (or more of itself to make the whole thing go faster)

* * *

 **Tier -2 Portable Resource Generator**

Cost: 0.05 Mass (100kg), 0.2 Energy, 0.25 time units

Economic: +0.0001 Mass/sec (200g), +0.01 Energy/sec, Stores 0.03 Mass and 0.3 Energy

While this is still well within portability, it is generally considered inconveniently hefty. As previously emphasized, reclamation should be used to collect mass at every opportunity.

* * *

 **Tier -2 Wildlife Defence**

Cost: 0.05 Mass (100kg), 0.2 Energy, 0.25 time units

0.1 HP (+0.001/sec)

Provides defences against all known forms of potential wildlife hazards while the base is building up. The sensors are not considered to even provide "Vision" by Coalition standards, but can still spot wildlife threats more than well enough within several kilometers radius. This thing actually has a structural integrity field that actually rates being numbered.

* * *

 **Tier -2 Light Security Unit** :

Cost: 0.02 Mass (40kg), 0.08 Energy, 0.1 time units

0.01 HP (+0.0001/sec)

If you really need to hunt something down to its home and kill it, this unit, which is more or less bipedal in every faction and differs only in aesthetics and weaponry, can be used. It is rather smaller than a person, but can still clear out wildlife effectively while prepping to go up the tiers.

* * *

 **Tier -1 Assembler** :

Cost: 1 Mass (2 tons), 5 Energy, 5 time units

Engineering 0.1 per second, Vision 5, 20m/s (land or underwater surface only)

1 HP (+0.005/sec)

Yeah, this thing can roll around on its own tracks or wheels, the Aeon and Seraphim ones too, because hover tech costs more energy than is worthwhile for internal reactors, but the lack of passive stealth and active camo means this is NOT useful in ACU warfare.

This leads to Tier 0 by being able to build a Tier 0 Mini Factory, which can in turn build a Tier 1 Engineer. Of course, like the other Assemblers, it can also make more of itself.

* * *

 **Tier -1 Resource Generator** :

Cost: 1 Mass (2 tons), 5 Energy, 5 time units

Economic: +0.005 Mass/sec (10kg), +0.1 Energy/sec, Stores 0.5 Mass and 5 Energy

5 HP (+0.02/sec)

Get a few of these things (which have outlines covering more or less a cube of 2 meters on a side) up, and (particularly) with help from reclamation one can quickly put together a Tier 0 Mini Factory and get their hands on a Tier 1 Engineer.

* * *

 **Tier -1 Security Unit** : UEF Security, Cybran Extractor, Aeon Retriever, Seraphim Whistle (a play on words from one of the humans' dominant languages)

Cost: 0.5 Mass (1 ton), 2.5 Energy, 2.5 time units

1 HP (+0.005/sec), 0.1 DPS from weapons

It is rare to require bipedal security units of this scale, especially as Tier -1 is supposed to be a beeline to Tier 0 and from there a Tier 1 Engineer. But these designs still exist nonetheless, using characteristic technology of the various factions.

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 **Tier 0 Mini Factory** : It's named this in every faction, including the Seraphim Hethiya-istle (which was actually built after seeing the humans' contingency plan).

140 tons (70 mass), 350 Energy, structure grid 40m (2x2), actual size 20m on a side, 400 HP, and 70 time units.

Engineering 5/sec, Vision 15

This does not upgrade to anything. Its sole purpose is to (and this is pathetically slow) crank out one Tier 1 Engineer per 52 seconds provided resource supplies are adequate. It's basically a stationary, tougher Tier 1 Engineer that can only make more Engineers. It's grossly inefficient compared to a Tier 1 Land Factory, but is the bridge from the infantry-size tiers to the ACU warfare tiers. Infantry are basically useless due to how capturing certain structures works, namely incapacitating all living things inside in addition to erasing and rebuilding the IFF systems, among other things. However, sometimes a little human-sized diplomacy might be needed… among other things.

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 **Please note that until a Control Node structure (found at Tier 3) or better yet a Command Unit (only doable at Tier 3) is constructed, a pilot can only control 50 units. While Tier -3 to 0 only count as 0.5 units each, this is still a big deal. If a Control Node is destroyed without any other potential controllers being around, the highest tier units or particular selected units get priority in terms of not being self-destructed. Otherwise the requirements in wormhole management would kill an ACU pilot.**

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 **A/N** : This is the setup I will use for some crossovers, such as Worm/SupCom. Because did you really think ACU pilots aren't able to potentially rebuild their civilization if need be?


End file.
